Subtil

As previously noted, the web site of Swedish Customs has got a new design. The first thing that strikes me is how it feels very much like the design of another Swedish government authority -- The National Tax Board. Is this due to the fact that both use SiteVision as publishing platform? Many other Swedish government authorities use the same platform but have very different design so that's probably not the reason why.

My next thought is that it's a good thing. The likeness to the National Tax Board web site signals Government Authority to me and will probably help me navigate the site with more familiarity if the likeness is more than skin deep.

At the beginning of this year I left my old host. They always provided good service, but when you can find hosting services today with equal - well, even better service - at only 10% of the cost, you do the swap. Simple as that. Only downside with the new host is that they don't handle Swedish characters in domain names, so I had to park åkejohansson.com in another garage.

This Sunday (and I'm sure for many more days) I'm also moving my operation to the Drupal CMS. For now I'm using a standard theme, but will look into a redesign of the site later this spring. No more blueberries!

One of my favorite hang-outs, The Royal Swedish Opera, has recently re-designed their web site with the aid of self-proclaimed market leader of accessibility - FunkaNU. The previous site certainly had some problems but so does this one.

So what's all the fuzz about anyway?

...and other web ailments categorized as Design Hell, Content Hell, Style Hell and Extension Hell. Read all about them at the HTML Hell Page.

Jeffrey Zeldman reports that the mother of Harry Potter - JK Rowling - have redesigned her web site. A team of experts have worked together to make the Flash site accessible.

On entering i feel lost though. Guess i can't stand when web sites force me to go on a treasure hunt with my mouse to find out what my options are. The text-only version works better for me but no doubt kids (presumably the target audience?) will enjoy it.

Intressant att Web Service Awards, som belönat bl.a. Statens fastighetsverks webbplats, inte tar hänsyn till bakomliggande uppmärkning i sin bedömning.

Trots allt är användarvänlighet, nedladdningstider, tillgänglighet och informationens kvalitet "framgångsfaktorer som mäts" i tävlingen. Dessa faktorer påverkas i hög grad av förmågan att använda (X)HTML och CSS på det sätt som är tänkt.

Ett annat exempel på detta är Statens pensionsverk som avhandlats i en artikel i 24timmarsbloggen nyligen. SPV visar dock intentionen och viljan att jobba åt rätt håll, medan SFV snarast har drabbats av sjukdomstillstånden divitis och classitis i sin kod.