Interview With Web Optimization Expert Andy King 25
Adrian Holovaty writes "Andy King, author of the new book Speed Up Your Site: Web Site Optimization, was kind enough to chat with me about Web optimization -- making pages load and work efficiently -- and how it applies to news/information sites and weblogs. Andy founded WebReference.com and Javascript.com, two of the most respected Web development sites."
Banner Ads (Score:5, Insightful)
Ya think? Just check out one of the sites he founded, webreference.com [webreference.com]. People take web design advice from that example?!
Re:Banner Ads (Score:4, Interesting)
No flame intended
Re:Banner Ads (Score:2)
However, if I were him, that's not a website I'd like to be associated with in the second paragraph of a Q&A about web optimization. And just to be catty, that color scheme leaves a lot to be desired too. ha ha ;^)
Re:Banner Ads (Score:4, Insightful)
Holy cr... (Score:3, Interesting)
If I hadn't read this story, I would have assumed that the owners of webreference.com had let the domain expire, and some lamer had snatched it up and used it as a backup URL for his GeoCities site.
Needless to say, webreference.com is being deleted from my bookmarks as soon as I hit Submit.
Re:Banner Ads (Score:1)
Maybe the guy is a great optimiser... but useful design, isn't his game.
Oh, the hypocrisy! (Score:5, Funny)
Tables suck? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Tables suck? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, but if you're going to use them (on say ... your /. link [ucla.edu]) you should probably make certain they don't explode at font-sizes other than the one on your development platform (for example, on say ... your /. link [ucla.edu]). :p
Superior Site (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Superior Site (Score:2, Interesting)
been their done that ...... (Score:1)
Table Optimization? (Score:1)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this cut out a lot of legacy browsers? I'm also not sure about ADA compliance w/ this methodology. I imaging news sites would want to appeal to the widest possible audience.
Re:Table Optimization? (Score:1)
You got your facts backwards. Structural HTML + CSS presentation is the best way to combine nice presentation (for conforming browsers) with backwards compatibility and accessibility.
Re:Table Optimization? (Score:2)
Good site design is driven by a clearly defined business requirements.
The design of open Web news sites, which are dependent on advertising support, is driven by a commercial requirement that the layout -- including all of the advertising -- be visually consistent across all supported browsers.
Most of us define "supported browsers" to include 4.x and newer. That is a business decision, not a technical decision, and it's driven by observation of actual usage.
Your definition of "backwards comp
Re:Table Optimization? (Score:2)
No tables, and looks great in the latest versions of Mozilla and Explorer. Not only that, try the same page with Lynx or Avantgo and see it working flawlessly with them too.
Fh
Re:Table Optimization? (Score:1)
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of CSS and I do use it, but I can't tell people with older browsers to go take a hike, and I don't have time to code multiple pages (like Wired is apparently doing.)
Re:Table Optimization? (Score:2)
They just keep one version of their site (no need to code multiple pages). It will look good on modern browsers that implement CSS (like IE and Mozilla), but it will also work flawlessly with not capable browsers (eg Netscape 4.76). You will only lose the fancy stuff, but you will able to access all the content. Try with Lynx or with a speech reader browser for blind people, it will work.
Fh