I'm still using the CSS Menu Writer that I got to evaluate. I have to say it's very slick. I'm working on a WordPress site that I hope to reveal soon, and it came in very handy. I've worked on tabbed navigation with CSS before, but this was relatively painless. A few quick menu adjustments and it gave me a set of beautiful tabbed menus. Of course it's never quite that easy. I had to track down a bit of a z-index glitch in IE6 and 7, but that was hardly the fault of the people at WebAssist.  The menus performed perfectly in my base page in all browsers. It was only when I introduced some additional CSS of my own that I had an issue. Why can't Microsoft come up with a browser that works as well as the new Chrome by Google seems to? If you're looking for a Dreamweaver plugin that takes some of the work out of clean CSS menus, I'd suggest giving CSS Menu Writer a look. Even if you use it like I did, to quickly build a base menu that I further customized, it is an incredible time saver.

Someone has posted an image of what HTML code should look like. Well done. h/t Photoshop, Illustrator, and Web Design Resources.

POSH - Plain Old Semantic HTML

POSH, in case you haven't heard of it already, is short for "Plain Old Semantic HTML", and is obviously much quicker and easier to say than "valid, semantic, accessible, well-structured HTML". Unfortunately POSH -semantic markup - is also something most people building websites or creating content for the Web have yet to discover.

It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one that sees quality semantic HTML as a viable web design solution. There are flashier solutions, but well written HTML with good CSS is hard to beat from a reliability point of view. When it comes to web solutions that are 508 compliant, there's nothing better. I love trying new things, using new technology, but there are places for that. For instance, newer technology can be incorporated into an otherwise POSH site. It's not necessary to completely throw your site into the every new technology that comes along. One trend in recent years has been to make all Flash sites. Nothing wrong with Flash, it has some impressive potential, but a lot of the flash sites I see have very low usability. They're pretty, they're creative, some of them I'd consider works of art. They're not however, a viable alternative to most of the work I do. Usability and 508 compliance may not be exciting, but when a client or employer wants it, the best course of action is to make it POSH.

Baekdal is linking to Web Pages that Suck article called Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015. It's a great list. I think all designers fall short in some of these areas. For instance, I'm likely guilty of number fourteen: "Mystery belief in the power of web standards, usability and tableless CSS", though not to a great extent. As a designer, these are the things I control. The content of a site I work on is rarely up to me, that's the client's domain so to speak. So while I realize that content is king, all I can really do is present the content I receive in the most reliable and readable format I can. So if I err on the side of web standards, usability and tableless CSS, it's because I'm trying to do everything I can to present the content, in a clear and legible fashion, to as many people as possible. That's a mistake I think I can live with.

Have you noticed the attribute "ilo-full-src" appearing in your code when when working in WordPress with Firefox? You likely have the ImgLikeOpera extension installed. Disable it and everything should work fine. I don't know why it's causing the addition of this odd bit of code, but it seems to be doing just that.

I just thought this was interesting, and yes, I didn't know a browser could render some of those. 7 Character Sets You Didn’t Know Your Browser Could Render

Basement dot org is linking to a nice collection of web testing tools. Fairly comprehensive, and very helpful.

How often do you visit a website and find that it isn't functioning properly? Lack of functionality is a very common problem that I see. A site needs to function reliably and consistently, regardless of the platform and browser choices of the viewer. Too many designers seem willing to sacrifice functionality in exchange for one web gimmick or another. Building a website is more than just slapping the pieces together and praying. Test, test test, and then do it again. Here is a short list of things that need to be checked. It is by no means complete.

• Have you checked Mac and PC? How about Linux?
• Does it work in IE7? Firefox? Opera? Safari? Did you forget IE6?
• Have you checked all of the pages, even the obscure ones?
• If it's a blog, have you verified that the RSS feeds are working?
• Are all of the images loading? Even those called by the CSS?
• Could any of those images be made to load faster? Dial-up viewers would appreciate it.

Don't let minor problems with your site cause major problems with your viewers and your clients. Good design is great, but if you can't make it work, it's useless. Make sure that your functionality is as good as your design.

Welcome to my new site. I'm going to be using this site as a repository for online resources and news about the interrelated fields of graphic design and web design. I'm a professional graphic designer with thirteen years of experience in print publications. I started to add web design to my repertoire about five years ago, and for the last two years have been doing forty to fifty percent web design work. I'll also be writing about photography, computer, and design software. These subjects are dear to my heart and integrally linked to my design work. Thanks for stopping by. Before you go, please check out the links on the sidebar, there are only a few now, but they're good ones. I'll be adding to that list and to this site as time provides, so please come by again and see what's changed.