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	<title>Comments on: On hiring designers, FrontPage, and your 12-year-old nephew</title>
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	<link>http://www.sillybean.net/2005/02/on-hiring-designers-frontpage-and-your-12-year-old-nephew/</link>
	<description>reading, writing, web design, and the intersections thereof</description>
	<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:53:07 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>By: steph</title>
		<link>http://www.sillybean.net/2005/02/on-hiring-designers-frontpage-and-your-12-year-old-nephew/comment-page-1/#comment-521</link>
		<dc:creator>steph</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 May 2006 23:57:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sillybean.net/archives/653/#comment-521</guid>
		<description>John and Rachael: I'm really glad it worked out for you and you're happy with the results. 

The site does look fairly good. If you're at all worried about attracting business from search engines, I would suggest a few changes. (And these are typical of all sites designed in FrontPage, which has a host of problems, and are not, I would say, a slight on Rachael's skills.) 

First, I'd try replacing the menu rollovers with CSS-based menus to eliminate the massive amount of Javascript. "Listamatic":http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/ is a good example of this, and "List-o-matic":http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/list-o-matic/list-o-matic.asp makes it fairly easy to accomplish. 

Second, I'd reconsider the use of frames. What search engines see when they visit your site is "Your browser does not support script If you can see this, your browser does not support iframes!" rather than your actual content.

Third, I'd "use real heading tags":http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_27_using_real_headers.html and style them with CSS rather than using font tags. This improves accessibility and allows search engines to figure out which phrases on your page are most important. (Font tags are deprecated -- that is, they are not allowed in the latest versions of HTML.)

"Putting alt attributes on all the images":http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_23_providing_text_equivalents_for_images.html would be a good idea, as well. 

In fact, doing just about everything mentioned on "diveintoaccessibility.org":http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ would be an excellent idea, but I've called out all the ones that would help you most.

Rachael, if you don't want to learn HTML, the single best thing you could do for yourself is ditch FrontPage and look for an editor that will write "standards-compliant HTML":http://webstandards.org/learn/. Dreamweaver is probably the best, but it's very expensive. I believe "NVU":http://www.nvu.com is one of the best free editors.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>John and Rachael: I&#8217;m really glad it worked out for you and you&#8217;re happy with the results. </p>
<p>The site does look fairly good. If you&#8217;re at all worried about attracting business from search engines, I would suggest a few changes. (And these are typical of all sites designed in FrontPage, which has a host of problems, and are not, I would say, a slight on Rachael&#8217;s skills.) </p>
<p>First, I&#8217;d try replacing the menu rollovers with <span class="caps">CSS</span>-based menus to eliminate the massive amount of Javascript. <a href="http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/">Listamatic</a> is a good example of this, and <a href="http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/list-o-matic/list-o-matic.asp">List-o-matic</a> makes it fairly easy to accomplish. </p>
<p>Second, I&#8217;d reconsider the use of frames. What search engines see when they visit your site is &#8220;Your browser does not support script If you can see this, your browser does not support iframes!&#8221; rather than your actual content.</p>
<p>Third, I&#8217;d <a href="http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_27_using_real_headers.html">use real heading tags</a> and style them with <span class="caps">CSS </span>rather than using font tags. This improves accessibility and allows search engines to figure out which phrases on your page are most important. (Font tags are deprecated &#8212; that is, they are not allowed in the latest versions of <span class="caps">HTML.</span>)</p>
<p><a href="http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_23_providing_text_equivalents_for_images.html">Putting alt attributes on all the images</a> would be a good idea, as well. </p>
<p>In fact, doing just about everything mentioned on <a href="http://diveintoaccessibility.org/">diveintoaccessibility.org</a> would be an excellent idea, but I&#8217;ve called out all the ones that would help you most.</p>
<p>Rachael, if you don&#8217;t want to learn <span class="caps">HTML, </span>the single best thing you could do for yourself is ditch FrontPage and look for an editor that will write <a href="http://webstandards.org/learn/">standards-compliant <span class="caps">HTML</span></a>. Dreamweaver is probably the best, but it&#8217;s very expensive. I believe <a href="http://www.nvu.com"><span class="caps">NVU</span></a> is one of the best free editors.</p>
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		<title>By: John Skyner</title>
		<link>http://www.sillybean.net/2005/02/on-hiring-designers-frontpage-and-your-12-year-old-nephew/comment-page-1/#comment-520</link>
		<dc:creator>John Skyner</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 May 2006 22:25:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sillybean.net/archives/653/#comment-520</guid>
		<description>To add to the comment above, left by my daughter Rachael, who is 14 years old... It's a 40 page site, designed predominently in FrontPage (with a bit of manual HTML &#38; Javascript), and I am over the moon with it. Most visitors to the site, who subsequently contact me, comment on how professional the site looks and how it must have cost a fortune, considering the fact that the going rate, for a 3-4 page static site, seems to be between Ã‚Â£200 - Ã‚Â£300. We actually worked very closely in getting the site exactly how I wanted it and it only ended up taking 4 half days to complete... I suppose it really is all down to having confidence in the ability of the person you use.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To add to the comment above, left by my daughter Rachael, who is 14 years old&#8230; It&#8217;s a 40 page site, designed predominently in FrontPage (with a bit of manual <span class="caps">HTML </span>&amp; Javascript), and I am over the moon with it. Most visitors to the site, who subsequently contact me, comment on how professional the site looks and how it must have cost a fortune, considering the fact that the going rate, for a 3-4 page static site, seems to be between &Atilde;‚&Acirc;&pound;200 - &Atilde;‚&Acirc;&pound;300. We actually worked very closely in getting the site exactly how I wanted it and it only ended up taking 4 half days to complete&#8230; I suppose it really is all down to having confidence in the ability of the person you use.</p>
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		<title>By: Rachael Skyner</title>
		<link>http://www.sillybean.net/2005/02/on-hiring-designers-frontpage-and-your-12-year-old-nephew/comment-page-1/#comment-504</link>
		<dc:creator>Rachael Skyner</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:54:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sillybean.net/archives/653/#comment-504</guid>
		<description>I made this page for my dad .... http://www.cfab.co.uk .... is it really that bad... we never fell out over it either!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I made this page for my dad &#8230;. <a href="http://www.cfab.co.uk" rel="nofollow">http://www.cfab.co.uk</a> &#8230;. is it really that bad&#8230; we never fell out over it either!</p>
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		<title>By: Michael</title>
		<link>http://www.sillybean.net/2005/02/on-hiring-designers-frontpage-and-your-12-year-old-nephew/comment-page-1/#comment-282</link>
		<dc:creator>Michael</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Aug 2005 21:25:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sillybean.net/archives/653/#comment-282</guid>
		<description>I agree with what you've said here, except for the 12-year-old part. Change that to, oh, 8-year-old and it'll fit right in with my Web knowledge.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I agree with what you&#8217;ve said here, except for the 12-year-old part. Change that to, oh, 8-year-old and it&#8217;ll fit right in with my Web knowledge.</p>
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		<title>By: Tarquesia McGee</title>
		<link>http://www.sillybean.net/2005/02/on-hiring-designers-frontpage-and-your-12-year-old-nephew/comment-page-1/#comment-268</link>
		<dc:creator>Tarquesia McGee</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jun 2005 14:14:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sillybean.net/archives/653/#comment-268</guid>
		<description>I am only 13 years old but I would still like the oppritunity to do this. </description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am only 13 years old but I would still like the oppritunity to do this. </p>
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