Dani Day
DMST 4100
Instructed by Joseph Labrecque
November 19, 2006
Alt tags unspecified, unclosed tags, typographical errors including extra characters that create parse errors. Undefined colors, line errors, unrecognized, there is no attribute...value not allowed, doc type does not allow...all in a day's validation.
Each page went through the validation process from error message to validation success. Each error corrected and resubmitted until the results were positive and the message and icon appeared to let me know all was well. "The document located at http://www.dandylionart.com was checked and found to be valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional. This means that the resource in question identified itself as "XHTML 1.0 Transitional" and that we successfully performed a formal validation using an SGML or XML Parser (depending on the markup language used)."
The most consistent problem was forgetting to specify alt tags and to close tags properly. These were easy to fix and relatively painless in the process. The most significant problems involved all embedded Flash pages and working through the process of how to use the swfobject.js to slide past the validation. It took 4 days and some hair pulling to get it figured out. Sometimes when you get too close to a project, it gets hard to see the picture for all the pixels.
After downloading the swfobject.js and upgrading the runtime environment and rewriting the script and redoing the CSS placement and reading page after page of articles and information about how to move active X components to Javascript, It turns out I just really need to keep track of where my files are. Simply forgetting one / in the file path or neglecting to reference the document at all can really make the process a lot harder than you'd think.
I should have known this was the problem from the beginning because when I started building the site, the problem I faced with coding the pages was misspelling file names and forgetting folders in the path to links. I got tired of trying to find all the mistakes, so I started using the GUI to link to files to save some brain damage. Well, that brain damage went away, but it created a slacker mentality that bled over to the validation and embeds process. If I had worked through the earlier coding problems for links without getting lazy and using the GUI, I might have avoided a day or two in the later process.
I tried to keep the class requirements in mind for the technical design. I used a variety of id's, classes and selectors to make a 2-column design with three sets of navigation. All pages have top and bottom navigation for the main pages of the site with a side column navigation for sub-level information. I tried to keep the design simple both technically and aesthetically.
The images for the background were created using Photoshop and a combination of gradients and images in layers. I wanted the overall feeling to be warm and inviting and to reference the idea of the site's name and purpose.
I kept the typographic styles simple and consistent using Arial/san serif fonts except for images and the banner. The fonts for the artists exhibited are the same as the font for the banner to keep unity within the site and aesthetic considerations. The color and size of the type is in contrast to the background without being overwhelming or difficult to read.
The differences between browsers are minimal and do not produce any problems with the visual appearance of any of the pages. There is some stretching that occurs on a few pages where the text drags out the page a little further in some browsers.
The following are some sites I found helpful during the search for how to deal with Active X and Javascript...
http://www.rtbwizards.com/rtbnewsletter/issue3.htm
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/selector.html
http://blog.deconcept.com/swfobject/
I considered purchasing the extension for Dreamweaver at the following site, but didn't. I may change my mind later...