[thelist] Constructive criticism (was: "Notifying" search engines)

[Mark Howells]

> <http://www.gomedia.ch/>
>
> I like it, but some things need a bit of tweeking:
>  a) The header images on the homepage have empty alt tags.
>     CORPORATE, LONG TERM MEETING, ...
>  b) On that same page the div's seem absolutely positioned.
>     The bottom divs don't align exactly the same.
>     Left one is 2 pixels off at the top.
>  c) Still on that same page the text "leaks" when resizing text
>     (in gecko based browsers, msie is safe)
>  d) This is probably not your decision, but the titles are in english.
>     Quite odd for a [lang=de] site?

Thanks for the feedback.  It's nice to receive some constructive 
criticism.

a) the content, semantic layout and structure of the entire site comes 
from a CMS which we've developed and there are some accessibility 
issues which I'm aware of.  This problem, where images controlled 
through the internal media management system don't have alternate text, 
is on the list of tasks to achieve in the near future.  The main 
difficulty we're up against is not a technical one, but rather 
convincing the users to actively add the alternate text.  (Most of the 
users of the system, who update and add content to the sites powered by 
this CMS, are journalists or marketing people.)

b) None of the divs in the site are absolutely positioned, but rather 
laid out with a series of floats with varying complexity.  I'm aware of 
the issue with the fourth row on the front page - where the address 
blocks don't align correctly across all browsers - but have had to put 
that on a back burner due to priority issues for other clients.  The 
problem is caused by an issue with margins and the varying success of 
using <br clear="all" /> and / or clear:both in CSS.

c) Over 95% of our intended audience is using IE - statistics taken 
from the previous version of this site over the last six months and 
three years.  I hadn't noted the text resize issue in Gecko, so thanks 
for letting me know.

d) That's a low priority issue, and should probably be updated.  I'll 
take a look through the source and address any coded which will 
conflict with the content language designation.

Regards
Mark Howells
http://www.mark.ac/