Lilula

Coming soon.

My Ethos

15May2008

It’s time for an intervention.

Lately I’ve been thinking how this domain portrays me as an individual and have found myself mulling an interesting deduction - this domain does very little to portray me as a designer. Considering that is the one thing I want to come across as I’d say there needs to be some changes.

No more personal blogging. I am happy with my tediously mundane life and feel the need to share every detail of it is superfluous. No one cares about what I had for breakfast. It was a wonderfully tasteless Starbucks ‘coffee’ with a lemon muffin if you must know.

The portfolio section will be destroyed. Slapping every piece of work I’ve done since I was fifteen does not bode well for my professional reputation. Portraying my work on screen is not reflective of my infatuation with handmade aesthetics at all. My portfolio will be a tangible object and not a plethora of thumbnails.

However, most importantly I need to brand myself much more clearly.

‘Hey Girl’ is a wonderful song by the Delays, however it is probably the furthest away you can get from what I am really trying to portray here. I’m not just defined by my gender.

The layouts I’ve had thus far have been highly experimental - pieces I’ve come up with in a few weeks with little or no research. That will change. I need to learn how to create layouts to accommodate my growing content, as opposed to creating layouts because they look ‘pwutty roffles’.

There will be a redesign at some point - content and layout wise. I have to find out who I am as a designer and what do I like and why. It may take a while but once I’ve actually come up with a strong identity I’ll be able to roll with it. And it will be awesome.

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For The Logo Makers

30March2008

I’ve made a fabulous present. It’s not me lap dancing whilst singing Kelis - I soon realised that I couldn’t dance or sing and decided to spare you all. Unless you’d like to believe that I actually sound like Kelis and am a lardy castrated black cat. BEHOLD! My mighty Flash skills will astound and bedazzle you!

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.hey-girl.org/blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/logo-2.swf” width=”200″ height=”200″ /]

Many thanks to Eilidh, Annie and Cecelia whom provided me with the logo mock-up’s to create the epilepsy inducing background. In all seriousness each of you came up with a fantastic idea and it’s got the cogs turning. I might churn something out later when I’ve got my branding unit later in April.

Of course musical credits go to the very unique Kelis who provided the wonderful (remixed) chorus you’re hearing a shoddy recording of right now. Not a truer word has been spoken in regards to what a logo is meant to do which is bring all the boys to the yard. Damn right it’s better than yours.

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A Challenge of Sorts

21March2008

Recently I read a post on Just Creative Design on how to design a logo. It got me thinking about how I will eventually have to brand myself in order to put my lawl worthy skills on the market - it’s actually one of our upcoming units at university. My friends up in illustration had a briefing on a similar unit a while back and they were told to come up with a simple draft of a logo.

The concept was simple. Create a logo using your initials. My friends have some slick initials which bode well as memorable logos - RW, KL, RL - notice how the sloping kick of their first initial sweeps into the vertical construct that is their last initial. Wonderful. As a joke I decided to have a go at creating a logo from my initials.

Lilian Tula? LT? Then it hit me.

My initials are a typographical abomination. You can’t put L and T together in a way that looks nice. Box it together and it looks like a square with an ‘appendage’. Put it vertical and you get a freaky looking swastika. Put the T lying down and you get a U with a ‘protrusion’.

How will I ever get work with such hideous initials?!

So here’s a proposition - design me a logo using only my initials. Forget my middle name, it’s a lost cause and will make your eyes bleed from the horrifying aesthetic that is my initials in their entirety. The logo can be as stupid or as creative as you like, there are no boundaries whatsoever. The colours and size can be as you see fit.

Post your entries via this entry, or send them in an e-mail. Winner gets a lap dance from yours truly, whilst singing ‘Milkshake’ by Kelis. Whether or not that’s appropriate - or desirable - is up to you.

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Love Albert Road

06March2008

Today I handed in a three week project entitled Live Brief. The essence of it was to pick a brief from a current live competition of my choice and fulfil that brief in time for the project deadline. I decided to go with Love Albert Road, which isn’t a competition but a non-profit event that benefits indie shops, local businesses and unsigned bands. I have a special connection with that area of Portsmouth having spent most of my youth there - I’d hate to see it go, thus my involvement.

They are always looking for freebies from the university in the form of logos, designs, leaflets, etc. They’ve acquired quite an eclectic style as a result, but the consistent theme was a handmade, psychedelic, recognisable aesthetic. Perfect for my love of collage, rainbows and cardboard. The fact that they didn’t (and still don’t but that’s in the process of being done) have a website also seemed like a good opportunity to get my designs to a mass audience.

I’m not exactly looking for critique (unless there’s something so horrible that it needs addressing pronto) but all the same I want to share the design since I’m quite proud of it. There’s probably a few hiccups here and there that need fixing (i.e. probably will need to tidy the stylesheet at a later point before implementing the design, validate the coding, test it in all browsers, etc) but all that set aside I’m very pleased with the outcome.

I’ve also learnt a lot about structuring layouts and how imperative it is to have reoccurring geometric shapes to create a sense of fluidity. Pretty stupid of me to realise that in my second year of this course, but for all of two seconds I felt clever for thinking outside the box - er, no pun intended. As such I might write a tutorial later based on the concept of geometry in layouts if the concept doesn’t escape me before I can string two sentences together.

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Internet Behaviour

04March2008

Sherry Turkle once proposed a question about interactions on the web asking if it were only a “shallow game” or an “expression of identity crisis” (Turkle, 1995, p.180). In this entry I will be analysing several blogging websites and online social communities in an abstract manner by referring to the social expectations and representations of the self rather than their aesthetic values. I will also look at the ethical implications of having a fragmented identity and certain behaviours I have observed online.

Is decentralisation simply a fantasy? Turkle argues that the “Utopian discourse about decentralisation has come into vogue” (Turkle, 1995, p.177) stating that identity online has many different faces. However to what extent is this true? There are many idealistic theories about the internet being a place of total freedom, and yet the more deeply involved any one person becomes with the internet the more aware they become of the fact that there are as many social expectations put in place within online communities as there are offline.

Within the blogging community – the prime focus of this entry – there are many different circles which abide by certain norms in order to gain acceptance or ‘comments’. This includes some blogs which I personally visit as well as my own. What makes them interesting is that they are relatively successful blogs on a personal level since they do not offer a service but a certain quality of reading. Turkle briefly mentions McLuhan’s idea of people trying to “retribalise” (Turkle, 1995, p.178) within the digital social sphere. This seems to accurately depict the behaviours of certain online circles whereby bloggers can only pertain to a clique should they meet the standards enforced by it. These norms can range from the fairly achievable to breaking what would be normally perceived as convention.

So what is the normal behaviour within these social circles? There are many conventions within online social groups that correlate with tribal mannerisms. From my observations it could even be said that sometimes these groups resemble gangs, although to a less violent extent. Verbal conflict is imminent between different groups often due to different perceptions of what is acceptable within the blogging community. This creates a sense of elitism amongst groups probably as an attempt “to be respected as a member of a community, and, even more so, as an authoritative figure.” (Castells, 2001, p.40).

Castells wrote about many different categories of internet users, one being the “techno-elites” (Castells, 2001, p.39) and although he was referring to the academic portion of users online, the elitism trend extends far outside this specific group. It could be said that these online cliques which exercise such practices are just reflections of how offline social groups behave, however often these behaviours are not just confined to users who solely believe in advocating popularity games. They apply to most and if not all online communities relating back to how these groups can appear tribal and even ‘gang-like’.

I have observed many of these specific behaviours amongst my own blogging circle. The standard behaviour is not only to fulfil the criteria of blogging about topics of interest, but also to have a considered approach to coding and design. Compliant designing and valid coding are accepted whereas those which are not are subject to harsh criticism. Whilst the aim of this behaviour is done in good will whereby the blog site is optimised for web use, it is superfluous to the natural intention of a blog and therefore slightly perplexing. Just as Castells states, these communities create their own “social forms, processes, and uses” (Castells, 2001, p.53), and just as in offline social circles these conventions don’t have to necessarily be relevant, just implied and adhered to.

This leads me onto my next point concerning the terminology ‘netiquette’ and what it entails. From the moment we log onto the internet we are already bound by social norms. Even communities dedicated to unorthodox or extremist interests expect those that participate within it to share that interest and express it appropriately. Within the blogging community netiquette means upholding a common ground of ethics or morals, and the risk of overstepping the line can mean subsequent rebuttal from even the most loyal of readers. It’s a fickle business maintaining a steady audience and even more so if bloggers insist on “cycling though many selves” (Turkle, 1995, p.178). Consistency is what keeps readers grounded within this culture on the internet.

Personal blogging can be seen as an exploration of the self, allowing bloggers to have more freedom in what they write. Turkle mentions Lacan whom explains how the “ego is an illusion” and that any one identity is not merely set but a “realm of discourse” (Turkle, 1995, p.178). Arguably personal blogging is simply a form of narcissism whereby an individual believes their personal as opposed to intellectually informed thoughts are of such importance that they warrant publishing for a mass audience. The goal to achieve ‘comments’ through egotistical blogging in itself has a set of social restraints; will a subscriber feel deceived if a blogger decides to cycle through personality changes in order to achieve social status online? Should a blogger become too cryptic by cycling through the many faces of their identity they risk alienating their audience and ultimately loosing sight of their goal to obtain readership.

Muggleton et al. states that the internet is “no more a singular culture without boundaries than is society off the screen” (Muggleton et al., 2003, p.288) which is probably the key point this essay is striving to prove; and the essence of the uniformity that readers crave when they subscribe to a blog. However it’s difficult to compare the blogging community and its culture to the examples given by Muggleton et al., who studied gothic subcultures on the web (Muggleton et al., 2003, p.293).

They do share some similarities in that they both hold specific values and expect their members to abide by them. However the gothic community is one that existed prior to widespread web use and probably only translates to the internet “as an extension of ‘life as it is’” (Muggleton et al., 2003, p.296). Blogging operates on a similar note often reflecting the life and interests of the author; however the circle of users it creates is one very dissimilar to any community that is created to reinforce an offline lifestyle. Blogging status and circles don’t always translate into offline life, as the users can spring from various cultural backgrounds and have very different tastes and views to the blogger in question; linking them only in a digital sense rather than by set interests.

For example, Muggleton et al. argues that although users have the “technical potential to explore” they do not always do so since they would much rather explore specific interests (Muggleton et al., 2003, p.288). However users move through blogging communities much more sporadically. They cycle through blog rolls – links listed as a sign of affiliation to other blogs – and links left by the author which are relative to post subjects. The user cycling through these links creates hypertrails, which in turn influences their identity on the web. Each destination requires a reaction to information – whether it is rejection for lacking norms set by their community, or acceptance.

These hypertrails are woven to create a sense of belonging. Whilst travelling a user will often network and ‘comment’ in order to receive ‘comments’ themselves, reaffirm their views or extend their identity. This expands the blogging circle via a natural selection. Anyone outside this circle of expectations can be acceptably reprimanded. Arguably this can be related back to Muggleton et al.’s idea of users limiting themselves especially within blogging circles that are very exclusive; however whilst each blog may contain a set of standards that comply with the community they consider themselves a part of, they do not always have mutual interests, writing styles or lifestyles. On any one journey through a network of blogs a user may find themselves exploring themes they did not anticipate, throwing them outside their usual circle of interests whilst still maintaining the comforts of their blogging clique.

Referring to an earlier point, is having a multiplied identity something that is dishonest to those who perceive it? Offline we all have different social groups and perhaps behave slightly differently within each of them however these are not the attributes of someone who is fraudulent and untrue to themselves. This analogy can be applied to different personality shifts on the internet however online these shifts can be much more dramatic - for example something as confusing as switching genders. With the innovation of tabbed browsing one person can be many different representations of their self in one sitting. Users who have visited my blog and commented on entries relating to this subject find this both normal and unsettling in varying degrees.

Turkle spoke with an IRC user – whom whilst being a considerably different breed to bloggers, is still a relevant example – who saw life as “one more IRC channel” and confessed to being “addicted to flux” (Turkle, 1995, p.179). Whilst it’s not right per se to generalise the entire online population with the thoughts of one person, it’s safe to say that most users think similarly and thus shows that users are very aware of their identity changing as they skip from one digital space to another. Comments readers have left me correlate with this way of thinking, often with readers stating that “it’s just a different aspect of your personality” or that people are naturally “social chameleons” (Behave!, 2007). However some readers have expressed insecurities in befriending a person who feigns whom they are online for fear of being exposed themselves.

So far I’ve only addressed the complications of forming an identity within the blogosphere which only makes up a percentage of internet users. The focus will now drift to some of the most intuitive websites primarily for social networking – namely MySpace and Facebook. Castells states that “social production is socially informed” (Castells, 2001, p.37) and it could not be truer in an environment like MySpace or Facebook where everything is shaped to appeal to the user’s interests. Unfortunately what Castells did not foresee was the evolution of open source communities such as Facebook whereby the user shapes the content, as he states that “recipients… do not interact directly with the development of the internet” (Castells, 2001, p.36). MySpace, whilst increasingly popular, simply cannot rival the level of customisation Facebook contains. Users can create pages that define their personality. Which aspect of their personality must they encompass in order to comply with the convention of the community?

In the instance of MySpace and Facebook users find that it is a much more controlled environment. Users can create private profiles should they wish to so that only those they approve can view it – it is a means of communication rather than self publication such as in a blog. Networking happens through a series of events and not usually at random. Befriending someone on these communities requires some sort of common ground such as being past schoolmates, friends and acquaintances from offline settings and so forth since people are usually found from having their full name searched and not an alias.

This creates a much more rigid setting for its users who now have to cater to a multitude of social circles which most likely play an active part in offline life too. The chance to experiment openly with identity is dimmed considerably on these sites although they open up the opportunity to socialise in new ways with friends. However, it could be argued that due to the nature of the setting in which Facebook and MySpace operate, users can construct an identity which could be considered acceptable by others. A person can disclose information about themselves on screen that would otherwise not be seen in an offline setting, for example by listing favourite bands, wish lists, photos, personal quizzes, adding particular friends and so forth. These formulated identities can then make the user appear as they want to their friends even if they are acquainted in an offline setting.

Is the pick and mix lifestyle shown on personal profiles part of a false identity if it isn’t showing the whole picture? All identities represented on the internet tend to be formed through a selective process, often done so to reinforce personal tastes in offline settings. Much like in the blogging community, identities formed on social networking websites don’t betray the individual totally, even if they feel they have reinvented their persona to appeal to their social circle.

So what would happen if an online community had no boundaries? Total anarchy on the web seems to be a false ideology in practice. Muggleton et al. quotes Poster in that users on the web are “liberated from the markers and boundaries associated with social life” (Muggleton et al, 2003, p.286) however even in instances where there is no authority, ‘tribal leader’ or proclaimed ideals of freedom there is still a form and structure that users must abide by. On the notorious 4Chan message boards – deviating from the blogging community for the sake of this argument – there is no authority or same set of standards that are usually present on other message boards. However users are expected to resort to the childish, crude and fundamentally insane behaviour that is practised on there or face refutation from the established members. It’s curious how even communities that represent abstractions of social norms expect certain behaviours.

To summarise there is much that is yet to be learnt about how individuals function on the internet. I am inclined towards post modern views that we are decentralised and exist by cycling through many representations of the self, however I also acknowledge that there are just as many social restrictions on the internet as there are offline. It could even be said that these norms are exercised much more rigorously online as those enforcing them do not have to face the same repercussions as one would in an offline setting.

So how do social expectations impact us on the internet in an offline sense? Are we the same on and off screen – a symbiotic metaphor of post modernist views made physical? Or are these behaviours instincts that are pre-programmed from previous experiences offline through exercising interests and lifestyles? It’s difficult to say as any individual’s thought pattern whilst socially networking through digital spaces is as erratic as the next, flitting from one purpose to another, exchanging identities and forming steady niches for others to identify with.

The internet is evolving quickly, forming new communities and reinventing ways for people to communicate. It’s seeping out into everyday life through intuitive devices like the I-Phone, wi-fi enabled laptops, touch screen kiosks and wi-fi hot spots – it begs the question who are we and where does the blurred line between offline and online representation become clear? Or has the line been eradicated altogether?

Bibliography

Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the Screen. Simon & Schuster Inc.
Muggleton, D. & Weinzierl, R. (2003) The Post-Subcultures Reader. Berg Publishers Ltd.
Castells, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. Oxford University Press
Behave! (2007) Last retrieved January 9th, 2008 from http://www.hey-girl.org/2007/12/03/behave/

Subnotes

This entry is an adapted version of an essay written originally for a unit specialised in cultural contexts for communications within my current university course. It achieved a first.

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You’ve Been Robbed

02March2008

As you sit here looking blankly at the screen, scratching your ear in the hopes that dislodging that rather large piece of earwax will increase the capabilities of your auditory perceptions and never contemplating the fact that one day you will die and your life will have been wasted spending one too many brain dead hours in front of a luminous screen - where was I? - as you sit here looking blankly at the screen you are being robbed of your creativity.

One might argue how can that be possible with the amount of creative galleries we have, the countless people who have beautiful and perfect websites. We now have standards, accessibility to consider, web 2.0 coming out of every orifice and lovely brain dead self-proclaimed creative folk to harp on about it. How very quaint.

At the risk of sounding pretentious I love going to museums and art galleries because those places offer me something which I can make a visual connection with - something to challenge my perceptions and my intellect. The internet is not so different - this particular designer believes it’s a postmodern wonderland with dynamite potential. So why have we suddenly halted when it comes to creative endeavour online?

It seems that the rules in motion do not believe in websites that behave as a challenge to the user whether that be through distorting conventions of spatial awareness within digital spaces or redefining aesthetics in a way that doesn’t have to be confined to a digital screen.

So does that mean if a link ain’t blue with an underline, then it isn’t a link? Hypertrails can’t be sporadic intellectual journey’s - they have to be so simple so that even an earthworm with Down’s can navigate from one page to another. Great, exactly the demographic I’m sure thousands are striving for. Very good and well for bloggers (whom which sit on the most inane end of internet usage - come on guys we can’t deny it, we’re a waste of web space) but it breaks my heart when I see websites dedicated to design and art regurgitating the same shit over and over.

Quite frankly I grow weary of others defending my rights as an astigmatic, extremely long-sighted person because I’m also intelligent, resourceful and capable of navigating the internet without additional assistance - I think I should also mention I feel incredibly patronised when my ability to surf the web comes into questioning simply over the matter of my eyesight being far below normal standards. Putting standards in place to make the internet easier is simply robbing it of its potential.

Not to say that all aspects of the internet should not be accessible for all, but why can’t some of it be exclusive in the same way that art can be exclusive to those with different perceptions? That’s the sort of thinking that allows the internet to advance rather than to stagnate like Jakob Nielson would have it. I also believe that good design is born from a marriage of creativity within limitations - however what limitations are there in an environment that is seemingly boundless?

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CSS Image Rollovers

26February2008

I know there’s a billion tutorials on how to do these, but I’m going to show you the easy way when it comes to block navigation (vertical and horizontal). No moveable backgrounds that cock up in caching browsers. No JavaScript - I’m looking at you Dreamweaver - and it’s simple, fast, valid and cross-browser compatible. All that and a bag of chips.

I’m new to tutorial writing, so bear with me. You will need to know basic HTML and CSS. If you feel lost refer to W3 Schools or post a comment here. I’m going to use a horizontal column such as the one utilised in my current layout as an example. We’ll start with an image of what it’s going to look like first:

Sample Menu

Holy crap, it’s beautiful. Now let’s create a solid image of the rollover effect:

Rollover Sample

I’m using a subtle effect because I want my rollovers to move with the same stealth as ninja’s. Also it’s less confusing for the visitor and creates a more consistent and navigable interface whilst incorporating a moderate level of interactivity.

Now we have those two images, slice up the first one - namely what your navigation will look whilst it’s stationary. Leave the hover image intact since for block navigation you won’t need to mutilate the hover image into tiny pieces. Using my example, we should now have five sliced images for each piece of text and one block image of the hover effect. Time for a little bit of trickery.

Firstly let’s create our navigation in HTML using lists:

<ul id="navigation">
<li class="home"><a href="home.php" title="Home"><span class="hide">Home</span> </a></li>
<li class="about"><a href="about.php" title="About"><span class="hide">About</span> </a></li>
<li class="righto"><a href="righto.php" title="Righto!"><span class="hide">Righto!</span> </a></li>
<li class="tea"><a href="tea.php" title="Tea"><span class="hide">Tea</span> </a></li>
<li class="weather"><a href="weather.php" title="Weather"><span class="hide">Weather</span> </a></li>
</ul>

That was so easy I fell asleep and concussed myself on the keyboard. Notice there’s a space after the spanned text - you will be needing this so don’t forget it. Now we’ve got our navigation set in HTML, it’s time to move onto the CSS. We’ll call each image something logical and the hover block ‘hover.gif’:

#navigation {background:url('hover.gif') no-repeat; width:150px; height:200px;}
#navigation li {display:inline; list-style:none;}
#navigation li, #navigation {padding:0px; margin:0px;}
.home a {background:url('home.gif'); height:43px;}
.about a {background:url('about.gif'); height:38px;}
.righto a{background:url('righto.gif'); height:35px;}
.tea a {background:url('tea.gif'); height:38px;}
.weather a {background:url('weather.gif'); height:46px;}
#navigation a {display:block; width:150px;}
#navigation a:hover {background:none;}
.hide {display:none;}

Fin! If you’re feeling particularly fancy you can have ‘clickable’ rollovers using the :active pseudo-class. For vertical rollovers change the width on the navigation but keep a consistent height. To move the navigation around within a space, place it within a div. There are plenty of unexplored possibilities.

I’m paranoid about coupling an internal style sheet with my external one so I can’t actually show you how this particular sample rollover looks here on my blog - such is life. However you can download a working sample in case the above made no sense.

If you make a rollover using this tutorial it would give me great pleasure to see it. Show some love and either contact or link me - who knows maybe I’ll link you right back in this tutorial.

Happy rollovering fellow netizens!

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We All Love Dust

22February2008
I Love Dust have just relaunched their portfolio. May cause haemorrhaging due to awesome.Comments are off

Ethical Design

20November2007

I’m pretty sure most of my visitors are aware of accessibility and think about designing for web users who do not have the means to navigate as the majority would. Those would be ethical issues surrounding end user necessities, something all good designers consider. So what about client end ethical issues? What happens when a company that is morally unsound asks for work?

If Coca Cola asked you to make them a website for a substantial amount of money would you do it? Coca Cola are notorious for their infringements on human rights, so by designing them an identity which essentially lies to the consumer are we as designers endorsing the mal treatment of other people? Would designing a website for a company like BP be a strike against consideration for climate change?

Designers seem to be increasingly worried about these issues surrounding the evils of capitalism, as made apparent in the First Things First Manifesto of 2000. Personally, I think this is all a pretentious crock of shit. It’s very easy to take a moral stand point and refuse to work for a company that harms the environment, uses sweat shops or removes the beaks of chickens - but what of it? What does refusing work accomplish? Maybe they ought to teach those Burmese monks a lesson in humility.

Any work that is offered by a money hungry company that is declined by some morally upright designer is going to be taken up by another designer who doesn’t care. In the end by not doing work, nothing is done to stop the dumping of toxic waste in third world countries. If these designers actually cared about ethical issues then why are they sat around writing manifestos? Why don’t they get off their fat asses and do something about it against all adversities instead of just pretending that they care by protesting mildly from the comfort of their homes?

If these designers actually want change they’ll have to do more than stick their noses up at the capitalist society that pays their bills and groceries. By saying they hate capitalism they are delving into hypocrisy. The only way to resolve that is by renouncing everything corporate and trying to get the Feudal system to become popular again.

The medium is the message and nothing more but a message by which a reaction is provoked by the intensity of the medium. The only thing that inspires change is being proactive and informing the masses by doing something that will physically invoke change, such as going out and actually helping other people whose lives have been affected negatively by global corporations. Designing a few images about how mean capitalism is will just get lost in a sea of visual stimuli and hyper aesthetics.

I for one refuse to lie. I’m going to be 100% honest and open about myself and I’m not going to take the moral high point to make myself appear better than others for pretending to give a hoot. If a company that kills rare species of whales for profit asked me to do some design work for them, you bet I would take it up. I don’t necessarily agree with it but work is work and contrary to popular belief designers do have to eat at regular intervals.

Call me selfish, but I’d prefer to live a comfortable (as opposed to poor or exuberant) existence whereby I don’t have to worry about heaps of debt and antagonise my nervous disposition. Perhaps any money I might have left over will go to a charity that gives headless, legless, armless children goats, or some other worthy cause.

Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate change. Good for Greenpeace. Good for Oxfam. Good for all those other organisations which actively participate in ways to change things for the better. I for one am not one of those people which I’ll admit is a crying shame. However I’m not going to parade how concious I am of moral issues and how I help others by refusing design work, and I’m not going to pretend that I’m an almighty enforcer of ethics when I can’t afford it.

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A Guide to Access

17October2007

This is mostly for any DIM students who visit my blog, but everyone is free to add or comment. I don’t claim to be an access buff, neither do I think I know everything. This is just a guide including some very good resources, reasons why designing accessibly benefits both users and designers and a few easy to follow tips and tricks. Hi Dave!! :)

So how can we define access? According to the dictionary it means the right to enter, reach or gain access to. Access can be applied to all types of users, whether it be someone with a visual disability or someone who is using a browser different to what you normally use. It sounds a little daunting, and sure it can be pretentious to gloat about having an accessible site but the truth of the matter is that having an accessible website makes things easier for everyone, including yourself.

Why Design with Accessibility in Mind?

Usually an accessible website is a tidy website. The coding is neat and easy to follow, the design is flexible so all types of users on all types of browsers, machines, devices and resolutions can view the same page and navigate it with ease. Since accessible design is mostly valid design the amount of time the site takes to load decreases substantially. Coding semantically is coding logically - a semantically coded website will still make sense without CSS. This in turn is awesome for search engines which will be able to pick out key words easily.

However accessible design isn’t just about coding - there is a large chunk of visual considerations to undertake. More than often someone who accesses a website will have a visual disability whether it be as simple as being long-sighted, colour blind or even partially blind. Sometimes someone will visit a website using dial-up or will have to pay for the amount of bandwidth they use. What about folks who are browsing at work and don’t have Flash or JavaScript enabled for security reasons?

Designing Accessibly

Lesson number one is don’t design like a twat. As obvious as this is it’s probably the most difficult concept for people to grasp. This includes using tiny text, no contrast, minuscule layouts, heavy graphics, Flash with great importance placed on it (i.e. for navigational purposes), yadda yadda. There are many examples of how to design like an idiot, and a good few of how not to. I’ll walk you through this concept and tell you how to avoid such simple mistakes.

Coding Accessibly

Don’t panic. I know all DIM students love code to bits (internet applications… the good times) but there’s no reason to cry with exuberant joy. For all outsiders, DIM students don’t like code. We design. Ug ug. Er anyway, coding validly is coding doing things the simple way. It’s easier to update, easier to read and it visually looks tidy and, contrary to popular DIM belief, is not frightening at all.

So what are the common mistakes of a bad coder? Not using a DocType, invalid coding that returns many mistakes on the W3C validator, ignoring the rules of semantic coding, using tables to make layouts, and other equally naughty things. I’ll detail these and provide links a plenty. Anyone willing to contribute please do since this isn’t my forte.

Other Points to Consider

There is a huge war of some sort happening between validity enthusiasts, accessibility lovers and usability admirers. I’m not going to get involved because I can see things getting nasty, but I think they all lean on each other so embrace the fear and design for your users whilst keeping an eye on each of those subjects.

Good design isn’t born from accessible design. This is a LIE. Good design comes from being creative within limited situations, and coming out with something extraordinary despite what was thought possible. Putting the blame on the tools is just the trademark of a bad designer.

There are other little things you can do to increase accessibility on your site. For example, access keys are not the most imperative thing you can add to your website, but they are useful for some people who find it difficult or otherwise impossible to use a mouse. This can be someone with a physical or cognitive impairment, or even someone with a dodgy laptop touch pad. Use them in main navigation by tacking them onto links using ‘accesskey=”*”‘ and sticking a relevant character where the asterisk is. For example, Home could be H, or if done numerically 1.

If you use JavaScript, Flash, Shockwave or anything else that requires enabling or a plug in make sure that there are alternatives. There are simple ways to make JavaScript degrade seamlessly using CSS. Flash and Shockwave can be alternated with still images or text on browsers which do not support it.

Resources

Footnotes

Hope you DIM guys find this useful for AUFDW! And for those of you who aren’t in DIM, if you don’t want to comment explicitly on the above then provide your own opinions or insight on accessibility, or even your own links and resources. I don’t claim this entry to be absolutely perfect or complete in any way, so contributions (and hopefully not but if necessary, corrections) are most welcome.

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