[thelist] Dropdowns - good or bad?

Richard H. Morris richard.morris at web-designers.co.uk
Wed Nov 22 12:11:47 CST 2000


aardvark [roselli at earthlink.net] noted:

> -----Original Message-----
> > Apparently not, according to your employers: the pwcglobal.com
> web site has
> > *two* drop-down menus on the home page!!! Pot | Kettle | Black error?
>
> you're assuming he has any control over that company's site... i
> would say he doesn't...

I'm *sure* he doesn't: his own site is very much designed and coded for
usability, whereas PWC's is the usual megacorp type.

> look at the crap they auotmatically append
> to his posts, that's not a company that understands the medium...

Lawyer led...

> martin, OTOH, does understand the medium, and much better than
> his (new) employers...

Absolutely.

> i only use it, and google, for searching only, so both are great for
> me... i've learned to tune out all the portal crap...

Me too.

> yes, but i think companies like boo.com are a perfect example of
> how shortsightedness on the UI end as well as the business end
> are both equally as dangerous... turn away customers and you turn
> away *all* sources of revenue...

Quite.

> > > He doesn't claim to be a visual designer. But take a look at
> his traffic
> > > figures... Positive ROI? I think so.
> >
> > In much the same way as the motivational speaker types generate
> business...
>
> LOL... that's a good one... seriously, though, if he *didn't* make a
> site that is emminently accessible, we'd blast him... so instead it's
> got no eye candy...

And it's a case of horses for courses. He's damned if he does make a
visually-appealing site and damned if he doesn't.

> are you in the US?

No, UK.

> Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act, enacted on August
> 7, 1998
> http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/508law.html

I am aware of the US edict (although not conversant with it).

> accesskeys?  full alt attributes?  no image maps or frames?
> validated HTML and CSS?

Got me there: the ones I'm thinking of have fixed point or pixel sizes as
they were written while I was  writing CSS for layout control.

> all mine... all martin's... there are a few others who are very
> particular about that... as well as the three levels of WAI
> compliance...

But again, not the major corporates. Saatchi (IIRC) did a web site for a UK
law firm which was a triumph of style over function to the extent that if
you didn't have fast access or had some disability you couldn't get to any
content at all.

> > How many sites with DHTML navigation menus pass?
>
> um, none...

Quite.

> i think once you've got a handle on how to build accessible sites
> from the start, and experience doing them, building them that way
> is no extra cost to the client... no, you can't do full-bore testing
> with focus groups, but in our case, all of our sites are accessible
> unless the client requests otherwise... even those really low-budget
> ones...

In many ways, the low-budget ones seem to be the most compliant anyway!

Wasn't this all about drop-down menus once? ~;0)

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
Richard. H. Morris, Web Designers Limited
~~ http://www.web-designers.co.uk ~~
"I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me
          than a full frontal lobotomy"
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/






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