Oh no, another web site being promoted that fails to meet even the most basic of accessibility or technical standards. I am afraid that this site rates a clear 'F' (since unfortunately grades don't go any lower). The so-called 'accessible' site fails completely to reach even the lowest level of accessible design. Indeed it's almost a list of all the things that you shouldn't do in designing a web site:
- unresizeable tiny text
- missing alt attributes for images
- narrow fixed-width design
- reliance on javascript for navigation elements
- no <!DOCTYPE>, putting modern browsers into quirks mode
- strange mix of HTML and XHTML coding
- more 'spacer.gifs' than you could shake a stick at
- complete absence of structural mark up
There's more, but from a technical viewpoint it is quite simply terrible. There really is no excuse in 2005 for producing code of this dreadful quality (if there ever was). The Web Accessibility Initiative started in the last millennium, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 were published in 1998. You would not accept work of this quality from a professional in any other field, and it is depressing that self-styled 'web-professionals' continue to get away with lazy work like this, relying on the forgiving nature of web browsers which will make an attempt to display even the most incompetent code, and on a shiny cover for the shoddiness underneath.
I realise that I am danger of sounding like a broken record on this subject, but we should be promoting good practice, not praising the products of bad practice.
As for the Flash site (or so-called 'multimedia version'), I've no idea what it's there for. It merely duplicates the HTML version, with a handful of additions such as zooming into an image -- which could be done without Flash, and the effect of which is negated by the 'letter-box' through which the image has to be viewed. All the inconvenience and inaccessibility of Flash with none of the benefits (such as scalability). 1/10.
Nice pictures and very good content, once again let down by very poor design and coding.
Pete Gray
Museums Officer
> I thought the list would be interested in an outstanding
> website...with
> great graphics. They get an A+ from me! ;o)
>
> I am passing on the following:
>
> The Louisiana Division of Archaeology invites you to take a
> look at its new
> interactive web project about Los Adaes, a Spanish colonial
> site in what is
> now western Louisiana.
>
>
> http://www.crt.state.la.us/siteexplorer
>
> The present-day Los Adaes State Historic Site is a National Historic
> Landmark operated by the Louisiana Office of State Parks,
> where visitors can
> explore the remains of a mission and a presidio. Although
> the settlement
> marked the eastern frontier of the Spanish Province of Texas,
> the presidio
> served as the provincial capital for more than 40 years. Los
> Adaes also
> represented a rare instance of cooperation among three cultures: the
> Spanish, the French, and the Caddo Indians. An interpretive
> visitor's center
> is planned for the park, but currently, the online exhibit provides an
> opportunity for those who want to learn about life at the
> site, as revealed
> through history and archaeology. The interactive website presents
> information in layers, allowing the user to determine the
> amount and level
> of information received.
>
> --
> Dr. Thomas Hales Eubanks, RPA
> State Archaeologist
>
> Louisiana Division of Archaeology
> PO Box 44247
> Baton Rouge, LA 70804
> 225-342-8170 Ph., 225-342-4480 Fax., 225-933-1505 Mobile
>
> Louisiana Division of Archaeology:
> http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/ocd/arch/homepage/index.htm
>
> National Association of State Archaeologists:
> http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/nasa/
>
> John Martinson SRA-6117
> Museum Specialist
> Bureau of Reclamation
> Snake River Area Office
> 230 Collins Road
> Boise, ID 83702-4520
> Telephone: (208) 383-2287
> Web: www.usbr.gov
>
> RECLAMATION
> Managing Water in the West
>
> ><((((º>`·..·...><((((º>
> ·`·.. ><((((º>
>
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