Comments on: Image is everything http://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/ Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:54:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Stephaniehttp://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/comment-page-1/#comment-2569 Stephanie Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:25:03 +0000 http://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/#comment-2569 I had a similar experience in rural Quebec a few months ago. Facebook was virtually unusable, I couldn't believe it.I think image replacement techniques are contributing to the problem since the easiest ones hide the text off screen. I'm leading the project to re-do the templates for <a href="http://www.bcit.ca" rel="nofollow">BCIT</a> and picking a good image replacement technique took a lot of looking around.Bad tools can sometimes be to blame too. We've been working hard with our content contributors to get them to fill in alt tags but many of them only update their sites twice a year so can't remember all the picky details like what "alt" means, and our CMS can't enforce it. If you ask Dreamweaver to enforce it it gives you a tiny little text field to fill in that's never long enough.Maybe in addition to CSS Naked Day we need a day when all developers are forced to use dial up ;) I had a similar experience in rural Quebec a few months ago. Facebook was virtually unusable, I couldn’t believe it.

I think image replacement techniques are contributing to the problem since the easiest ones hide the text off screen. I’m leading the project to re-do the templates for BCIT and picking a good image replacement technique took a lot of looking around.

Bad tools can sometimes be to blame too. We’ve been working hard with our content contributors to get them to fill in alt tags but many of them only update their sites twice a year so can’t remember all the picky details like what “alt” means, and our CMS can’t enforce it. If you ask Dreamweaver to enforce it it gives you a tiny little text field to fill in that’s never long enough.

Maybe in addition to CSS Naked Day we need a day when all developers are forced to use dial up ;)

]]> By: Leah Macleanhttp://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/comment-page-1/#comment-2472 Leah Maclean Wed, 09 Apr 2008 03:38:56 +0000 http://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/#comment-2472 I think that with today being CSS Naked Day (started by www.dustindiaz.com) issues such as the ability to navigate with all images off, and without any styling at all, should be brought to the fore and more so called web2.0 and design businesses pull back the covers and really see what the sites are like without the CSS and images. I think that with today being CSS Naked Day (started by http://www.dustindiaz.com) issues such as the ability to navigate with all images off, and without any styling at all, should be brought to the fore and more so called web2.0 and design businesses pull back the covers and really see what the sites are like without the CSS and images.

]]> By: john Allsopphttp://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/comment-page-1/#comment-2464 john Allsopp Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:44:31 +0000 http://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/#comment-2464 Ben,oh yeah, I reckon packet loss is the big problem with this - theoretical throughput is all well and good, but the packets have to all make it!The town I live in (officially a suburb of Sydney, but 25km by road from anywhere) is well enough serviced by telcos, but a few of us here are keen to share our wifi and make the whole place a cloud of free internet access. Is that feasible for where you are?john Ben,

oh yeah, I reckon packet loss is the big problem with this — theoretical throughput is all well and good, but the packets have to all make it!

The town I live in (officially a suburb of Sydney, but 25km by road from anywhere) is well enough serviced by telcos, but a few of us here are keen to share our wifi and make the whole place a cloud of free internet access. Is that feasible for where you are?

john

]]> By: Ben Boylehttp://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/comment-page-1/#comment-2450 Ben Boyle Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:04:02 +0000 http://www.webdirections.org/blog/image-is-everything/#comment-2450 oh man... you should try *living* in a "fringe" location where there's waiting, and the possibility of more waiting (8 years here) ... at least you're in an "interesting but hopefully temporary" situation. Are you getting a healthy dose of packet loss too? That is one of the more interesting affects to observe with wireless connectivity... when links start resulting in random "server not found" due to packet loss between you and the DNS, a key css or js file may or may not have been (successfully) fetched, Web 2.0 apps repeatedly pop in to tell you 'oops' this or 'lost' that (like you need those reminders)... well, you know you're not in kansas anymore... or anywhere really ~:)thankfully it isn't always that bad. but you'll strike a patch like that every day or two, or every couple of hours, depends on the weather or something. Still pay a premium for the service :)You're very right, designers should be more aware of these issues. Especially here in .au oh man… you should try *living* in a “fringe” location where there’s waiting, and the possibility of more waiting (8 years here) … at least you’re in an “interesting but hopefully temporary” situation. Are you getting a healthy dose of packet loss too? That is one of the more interesting affects to observe with wireless connectivity… when links start resulting in random “server not found” due to packet loss between you and the DNS, a key css or js file may or may not have been (successfully) fetched, Web 2.0 apps repeatedly pop in to tell you ‘oops’ this or ‘lost’ that (like you need those reminders)… well, you know you’re not in kansas anymore… or anywhere really ~:)

thankfully it isn’t always that bad. but you’ll strike a patch like that every day or two, or every couple of hours, depends on the weather or something. Still pay a premium for the service :)

You’re very right, designers should be more aware of these issues. Especially here in .au

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