WSA Winner
Saturday April 3rd, 2004
A controversial choice, I know, but Jeffrey Zeldman et al's latest effort is a nice, smooth piece of design. Straying away from his trademark orange, the site features nice cream and brown tones, inspired (so Zeldman says) by non-dairy creamers.
Although a prominent figure in the Web design community, I can't say that I've seen much of Zeldman's work (outside of ALA, etc.), but this site reassures me that his design and usability skills are up there. (although accessibility might be an issue: no skip navigation links?)
Reviewed by Cameron Adams
#1
Nice to see they've reworked their site from their previously rather unreadable red and orange scheme. Clean and cream.
Posted by Ben Eastaugh :: April 3rd, 2004 at 01:04 PM
#2
I think it is lacking more than the Skip Navigation link, where are the titles for the links, and tabindex and accesskey? (At least for the navigation)
Am I missing those when I am going through the source?
Posted by dcohen :: April 3rd, 2004 at 01:49 PM
#3
The color scheme was also inspired by risotto (as so many others have reiterated). For those interested, the colors are actually quite close to the Lundberg Risotto box at this link:
Lundberg Risotto
Coincidence? Interesting, though. Regardless, it is a very well-done site and definitely deserves the award.
Posted by Alex Micek :: April 4th, 2004 at 03:56 AM
#4
Please excuse me, my HTML was stripped.
The link:
http://www.shopnatural.com/Merchant2/
merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=16166
Posted by Alex Micek :: April 4th, 2004 at 03:59 AM
#5
are you shure that was the link?
Posted by dcohen :: April 5th, 2004 at 03:32 PM
#6
I think this was a great upgrade from the last version.
I don't think this site really needs a skip navigation link. This site is not a news site or blog with updates everyday so it probably doesn't need the skip naviagation. There are only seven navigation links and those can easily be browsed passed quickly.
Posted by blakems :: April 5th, 2004 at 04:16 PM
#7
dcohen: yes, it was the best picture I could find - the colors are closer in real life. Regardless, it is a very well done color scheme.
Posted by Alex Micek :: April 5th, 2004 at 04:51 PM
#8
blakems, I think you are forgetting the greatest need for the "Skip Navigation" link is for text-only browsers, so folks who can't see and use those types of browsers can skip the constant links on every page or get to the content... Or, am i totally missing what you are trying to say.
The site is very nice, but the background, it seems like a 1995 Gif that was given out by AOL... or maybe I am just missing something totally.
Posted by dcohen :: April 6th, 2004 at 04:26 AM
#9
Dcohen, what I was saying is that, even if someone uses a text-only browser, the site is not one that would be visited everyday by someone to get news, or daily readings. Thus having the skip navigation link may not be necessary. I don't think it helps or hinders the design if they there is no "skip navigation".
Posted by blakems :: April 6th, 2004 at 03:55 PM
#10
blakems, I think the MAIN point is that a site without a skip navigation option simply doesn't fully comply with the WAI-AAA/508 as far as I know.
Posted by Tomaj :: April 8th, 2004 at 09:42 AM
#11
Well, I too have(and) read lot of Zeldman's. Try validating this page
http://www.happycog.com/people/alvey/
Again, as it goes, check, check, check before & after you upload.
Nevertheless, good stuff anyways.
Posted by Raj :: April 8th, 2004 at 12:14 PM
#12
Tomaj, that is the point I was pushing.
Posted by Danny Cohen :: April 8th, 2004 at 03:44 PM
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