Marshall Art Studio

Web Development

This prototype is part of a proposal to rebuild the ACCC website as a CSS/XHTML makeover. The site's current environment (embedded FONT tags, TABLE page layout, text content as GIFs, inconsistent HTML and CSS implementation) actually hinders content modification. The primary goal is modernizing the site's infrastructure, delivering long-term workflow benefits of (a) easier, less error-prone content population and (b) centralized visual elements through CSS.

Overall Development Goals

• Retain the approved, current visual design elements.
• Format the HTML files for easy content modification by ACCC staff
• Comply to Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) standards for the visually- or motor-impaired, as well as users of PDAs, text browsers or web-enabled telephone
• The User Interface needs to be improved, made more logical, easy-to-navigate and transparent

Technical Improvements

• Modernized coding and usability by writing in XHTML
• Centralized visual elements (fonts, colors, images, page layout, image rollovers) in CSS
• Tagged content in ID and CLASS selectors
• Moved the drop-down navigation from the current site's Javascript to CSS

Overall ACCC Website Maintenance

ACCC's FTP structure (Adobe GoLive in a Windows XP environment, set up by an inexperienced webmaster) was an unworkable mess. Repaired connection by contacting ISP and replacing GoLive the open-source FTP client "WinSCP".

Status: Limbo

ACCC supported the proposal's technical and workflow merits, particularly the long-term benefits. The short-term cost of reformatting the 200+ page website, however, was considered too big a budget hit.