[Sigia-l] RE: Web Standards and I.A.s

[Russ Unger]

> I was just curious if any of the I.A.s on the list here have been
> involved with web standards-based design implementations? 

Standards, in my experience, are pretty tricky for a lot of companies to
approach right now.  I've not had the exposure of dealing with a lot of
companies that have the experience or the time to properly work with
what has been defined as "web standards", however...

I have worked with organizations and worked with them to develop their
own standards (this is typically a much easier task when working on
intra- and extranet applications) for future design and development.
Depending upon budget and time constraints, I typically provide a
wireframe/s for basic layout, a wireframe/s that details out any scripts
on a page and their actions and, if necessary, a wireframe/s that detail
the CSS.  I've found that Development and Q/A find this extremely
helpful, and while it may appear to add to the workload of an IA and
require a degree of technical expertise that all IA's may not have, I
also find that it allows an IA to be more involved from cradle to grave.

And not to stir up the pot, but since so many places have different
ideas as to what IA's do and don't do, what their preferred "style" or
approach to IA is, I find it best to have some standardized personal
approach that I can at least present and modify to the clients
budget/timeframe.  Sure, it doesn't always work, and it's probably
obvious to do some of these things, but these things tend to work for
me.  Just saying.

I'll slightly disagree with the fallacies presented; when design is
being presented and there are browsers that do not support some of the
CSS features, well, I have to question whether or not the right
consideration was given to the design upfront.  I applaud the testing of
the "other" versions to users, but that approach almost seems
backwards--I would think that all of the limitations of the browsers for
the least common denominator would have been identified upfront and then
worked from there in order to standardize the design.

Sorry if I've rambled.  Hope I've provided valuable information.

Russ