http://hawidu.com/mcc/

It’s just a quick build, and I haven’t had a chance to test it beyond IE7 — so it might look entirely different on your computer than I intended.

If you’d like any justifications for the page, I’d be happy to give you my take.

As for the footer, we like it It changes each semester and highlights a different library project. This one one leads to my “Preserving our Recollections” streaming media project. Don’t go there unless you like Flash and ColdFusion.

I agree with the three column issue, but it works for us. Better than the “long list” web design so many libraries use. This was a compromise with for people here who want EVERYTHING on the front page. This is the 4th website I have done for MCC and I try to get all of the index page to appear in a standard screen display with no scrolling.

Tables: agree, but didn’t want to do CSS layout, perhaps with the next one

RSS: I used it here because I wanted to use the FeedBurner blog feed here and other places. The RSS is actually secondary.

Flash: agree about flash-ing being annoying, but it works in this context. It is small and not too obtrusive. I want it to get attention and for students to actually look at it, since we post important news for them.

Agree about the code, it is abysmally messy, but there is no ColdFusion used, although I am a CF programmer. All of the scripts are JS and needed. I purposely make the site look static, since it is a portal and I wanted it to have a consistent look.

Maybe the background code doesn’t fit stringent web standards but I focused on what the page did right visually. Sure, some pieces still need work. RSS? A mere tiny fraction of web users barely even know about this let alone how to use it to their advantage. So I agree -why bother with RSS?

While there’s always room for improvement, the site’s homepage provides clear headings and is refreshing from what a library homepage typically thinks is important. The 4 differences I noted are worth focusing as what is right with the site.

Stay tuned for more on this post in the coming weeks as I think you’ve got a great eye for technical implementation of website and would love to hear more of your thoughts.

1. 3 columns? The actual page is a lot “busier” than the picture leads you to believe.

2. The RSS badge at the top FlAsHeS through recent posts - incredibly annoying. Users have universally hated flashing things since the dawn of the internet. Besides, the page doesn’t include the head link tag required to make the convenient browser-based subscribe.

3. The code’s a disaster. Two style sections plus the requisite external file, and tons of scripts for what appears to be static content (Is there coldfusion doing something I don’t see as well?). Also, the layout is accomplished using tables — but tables are for tabular data, not layout.

4. After all the careful styling and theming, the footer truly clashes with the rest of the page.

5. Too much reliance on images, especially images that replace text. The alt attribute for the text images is actually different from the text represented! Also, spacer gifs for layout are a HUGE no-no.

6. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/homepagegoals/ - this is wisdom for the ages.

Sorry if that was brutal — I was just trying to be honest and helpful.