Re: [MACCAWS] preliminary list of items for the kit

Hi.  New to the list, and I'm not entirely sure what
format this 'kit' is taking, but I've a few
suggestions after doing some private evangelism with
web developer friends.

First and foremost I think it'd be helpful to explain
what web standards are -- in an easily non-geek
document, or (better) a narrated video clip.  If the
audience is management, they likely haven't got a clue
of what the whole issue is anyway; as long as their
site works in their browser, they probably don't care.
 The audience needs to know what cascading style
sheets are, what javascript is, and what XML is ...
and with examples of how those technologies give them
more options to make their site better, they'll see
the benefits.  So an introduction (a la
webstandards.org/upgrade) might be a good thing, plus
some examples of well-known sites that use those
technologies.

After they know what the technologies are, case
studies and examples is what they need to see.  Again
from the management perspective, they need to know
that they're not breaking unproven ground -- but at
the same time, they need to feel like doing this puts
them at the forefront of technology.  (Ego boosts
never hurt.)  This'll reinforce the idea that they not
only *should* upgrade, but that they *need* to
upgrade.

The next part is the hardest.  Showing the benefits of
CSS is easy, but recommending that they lose the pixel
GIFs and nested tables for something that might not
look as pretty in older browsers is going to take a
lot of convincing.  Another presentation of some sort
might be good here.

Last, they need to know how to implement the
suggestions.  If they have a web team already, links
for standards-clueless programmers or designers are
really helpful.  (Couched in more friendly language,
of course.)  Think ALA, the relevant PDFs from the
W3C, webstandards.org, the NYT Style Guide, etc...  If
they outsource their site, some shameless plugs for a
few standards-compliant design firms wouldn't go amiss
either.


... my $0.02.

Seth Foley

--- kevin c smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2002-07-25 8:28 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> > OK, I've been putting together a list of items
> that we'll need for
> > the kit (with some help from Steph).
> 
> Case Studies / Real-world Examples
> Talking Points / Summary
> 
> --
> kevin c smith
> [email protected]

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