Communication Arts Interactive Annual more like "Flash" Annual

Thanks for the article below. I agree whole-heartedly and considered applying this entry as a comment to the article below, except I was already planning to blog about this. The recent lawsuit of Target by the National Federation of the Blind is only a small indication of what's to come.

If you've received Communications Arts Interactive Annual 12, you were probably impressed with the design and diversity of design solutions as I was. The sophistication of these sites is astounding. And the panel of judges were certainly leaders in their respective fields.

What I found shocking was the predominance of Flash-only based Web sites. Not just integrated chunks here and there, but full flash sites with embedded navigation and content. Of the 30 Web sites awarded, only 3 were traditional HTML-based sites and only our good friends at Veer had a standards-based CSS driven Web site. (I should note that a few of the sites had text-only versions, but they were more like after thoughts.)

At the risk of sounding like Jacob Nielsen, I think the judges chose style and presentation over usability and universal access. I've always considered CA a standard-bearer in the print world, and for a time in the web world too. But their choice of awardees sends a single to the design community that they are certainly not the standards-bearer. I'll save the benefits of standards-based design for another article.

Seperation of content and presentation is a good thing, not just for the blind, but for everyone. Fortunately, there are pioneers like Zeldman, Meyer and others, who are moving the industry forward.

Flash has it's purpose. We love Flash and use it extensively. My hope that we can educate the business community at large that a Flash site is the only way to set yourself apart. A little help from our peers CA would be nice.

"I'm not web-standards compliant. So sue me!"

A week and a half ago mega-store Target received another chink in their affordable-hipster armor when a judge upheld the suit brought against them by the National Federation of the Blind.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, allow me to present both sides of the argument:

Target's thoughts:
"WTF? We just want to have an awesome looking site that sells our designer knockoffs to people who hate Wal-Mart but can't afford the real thing. Shouldn't we get props for that?!"

Blind person's thoughts:
"WTF? Why can't my software read this site? I just want to surf the web and buy some hipster crap like everyone else! I may be blind, but I still don't want to look like I shop at Wal-Mart!"

The issue is vision-impaired people use software to read text, so they can communicate with their computer without using a mouse. But because someone got a little lazy and didn't create standard alt-text, the software can't vocalize image descriptions. Plus, there's some serious image-mapping that limits blind users to areas of the site.

The real nail in eyeglass case, though, is that fact that you.have.to.use.a.mouse.to.complete.any.purchase. No alternate keyboard stroke or software can circumnavigate that.

So it turns out that pretty ain't necessarily smart (that reminds me, America's Next Top Model Season 7 starts this week!). Full-Flash site? Woot! Oh, it can't be read by anything? Oops.

Webstandards. Turns out they are sorta important. Go fig.

Sources:
MIT Advertising Lab | WebStandards.org | Three Minds on Digital Marketing | San Francisco Gate

How does the MacBook Pro stack up against Windows?

As a designer, I think Macs and Windows both do a good job with audio/video/photo editing. They run the same software and the interface for the programs is basically the same.
It's the Microsoft Office integration that has always dogged the Mac. Let's face it. There is nothing on the Mac comparable to Outlook with Exchange server.
No one I know is comparing the sophistication of a Mac to a Dell. That's like comparing Neiman Marcus to Wal-Mart. When you stack up a Mac against one of the high-end Sony Vaio laptops, especially the new carbon-fiber model with Blu-Ray, then the Mac begins to look a lot more pedestrian.

The author of this Business Week article begs to differ:
More Vroom For The Buck

Now, no one an accused me of being biased.

some of the most beautiful works of paper ever

Oh, my!

Too bad the web design leaves so much to be desired...