Catartis

Building to a Higher Standard

Maybe the real title of this post should be "How to Sneak a Web Standards Plug Into My Hurricane Ivan Obsession"?

I have been watching for a certain little house in Gulf Shores to post results of how it weathered the storm. Some of you may remember that, about two years ago I was dancing around with glee at the owner's use of MiracleGro and Rice Krispies in floor treatments, and a wonderful mosaic shower. All sorts of things. This lady should really write, "A Million Uses for MiracleGro" along the lines of published lists of all the ways you can use duct tape or baking soda. I had a blast reading that part.

But what was, really interesting to Tony and to me was how carefully they were paying attention to building the house to a standard that would withstand a major storm. From the pictures and comments she is starting to post, it appears all that hard work and attention to detail paid off:

The Dac-Art House After Ivan

Moral of the story as related to web design? Make it pretty, make it fun, but when you get lazy (like I often do) and want to fudge on serious structural details, think about some of the other buildings you have seen in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and other points on the NW Gulf Coast that are all over the news and linked in posts all over these blog posts. Think of them as pages designed with old fashioned tag soup, twisted table layouts and codes that do not comply with minimal W3C standards. Much of the time they will plod along and hang in for *sunny day viewing.* But hit them with a serious storm of all the different issues which can affect page display, accessibility and usability and BAM, down they go in a crumpled heap. Strucutral failure supreme.

Then think of this little house when you are grumbling about taking the small amount of time to design up to standards. Sure, like this house your site/page will need a few tweaks and adjustments after a serious battering, but it will weather the winds and rain.

Why do I get a funny feeling that the tiny building itself, left alone with out loving owners to watch over it, stuck out it's little dac-art tongue and gave ol' Ivan one of our quadruple cat dares, just begging him to hit her with his best shot? He did just that, but doesn't seem to have been any match for her southern strength and stubbornness. Too bad, Ivan, take your wind & rain to Huntsville where you can really terrify a house. [wink, wink]

Now that is your standards driven page comparison. It may have a bump or a bruise, but it's still usable, it's still accessible (provided you can get past the mandatory blockades and the *stuff* in the road) and it's still standing strong.

Can your web page design handle abuse so well? If not, get to work! And yes, I am looking at myself in a mirror and pointing a finger as I say that! I need a good storm to blow away a few gazillion old ones still lurking out there.

No, I do not know the owners or builders. (Except that the owners are also Tennesseans. ;^) I've just been watching for that one to surface online because it has really interested me for quite awhile now. And it was such a joy to see someone withstanding this storm. Amazing what some advance planning and attention to detail can do for you, isn't it? (Stop making faces Slacker!! I know you write stellar codes, even if you don't like to admit it! ;^)

The place is actually inspiring me to clean up this outdated mess at Catartis and, finally, get it moved to a new system. Like their south side hurricane shutters, it seemed like a good idea when it was created (with NN4 still in mind) but that's been awhile. I have lived and learned since then. Besides, I am deathly sick of that butterscotch color and have been too lazy to do anything about even that over here. Shame on me!

Hummm, and I could shorten the number of days that posts stay on this main page while I am it. With my recent obsession, load time is more than a little heavy at the moment. To put it mildly, haha!

Excuse for this story: Design to Standards! Go above and beyond them in your attention to details. Plan for the worse, enjoy the best and easy, sunny days. Doesn't matter if it's a house or a web page. The principle holds true.

So did I sneak enough web stuff in here to get back to my current obsession? There is one more house I'd like to find online and see how it fared. The pink one we dilly dallied and didn't grab. I have a funny feeling that it may be okay except for the lower level *under pinnings* as long as the foundation didn't shift or sink.

Needless to say, I am taking notes and filing ideas for our future home in Gulf Shores. It will happen.... someday. *sigh*

TaTa for now,

Farron
[and _^..^_ who wants to know if he really has to ride in a C-A-R to move to the beach]

Posted by farron at September 20, 2004 03:19 PM