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> what are your favourite websites? However every single one of these sites is riddled with basic errors, which may not be apparent to anyone using the latest version of IE, with perfect vision and the default settings, but nonetheless are errors that a professional web designer (as opposed to graphic designer) should not make. Most of the sites clearly break accessibility guidelines, and therefore lay their owners open to potential law suits. Others fiddle with the basic functionality of the browser for no good reason. Yet all these errors would have been simple to avoid. > www.centresforcuriosity.org.uk is a fantastic site for research and information on kids' > museums worldwide, and I found some good websites in their list,too, particularly in the > States. But it subverts the status bar for no good reason, in an interestingly broken fashion. As for the navigation, there seems to be no link back to the home page, and the image rollover is on for some pages and off for others. > I strongly recommend the 'Reticulum' site [Latin for net]- Hadrian's Wall stuff developed in > partnership with KS2 children. It's easy to use, looks good, is fun and multi-layered. The > content is also surprisingly detailed, yet accessible. http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/reticulum/ I don't think "<noframes> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" background="/NAVIBAR/OrangeTexture.jpg"> </body></noframes>" will win any accessibility prizes. > www.soper-lane.co.uk for its functionality - running forums, chat rooms and allowing > users to upload their own work, comment on others, and bibliographies etc. Interestingly pointless alt text on the home page, though. Imagine hearing "bg" 31 times, then "logo", then "bg." again. > An enduring favourite is the www.bbc.co.uk site - and have met quite a few people who > also think it's great - for many of the reasons outlined below. I know a lot of people say this, but I find the design of the home page overly busy, and it's often hard to find the part you're looking for (mainly because the site is so big) > I like the British Museum one for intro pages and access for general visitors With a sideways scroll bar at less than 1024 x 768 on the home page, no alt text on the shim.gifs and no actual text at all. > www.dulux.co.uk - when I am teaching Internet skills no one has failed to like this site! > The interactivity of mousepainter is great! Presumably no-one ever needed to re-size the very small text, then. Hint: in IE you can't. > For fun, but has won lots of awards The Mesoamerican Ballgames website > www.ballgame.org , That's the one where the home page is entirely images without any alt text? And where the whole site is in Flash? also fun is www.clarksoriginals.com Well, for certain values of $fun. Unresizeable chromeless windows. The Flash site may be less dull, but what is it _for_? > which site has the best design? > www.4ureaders.net (I am biased as this is a site we commissioned) No alt text. Empty <noframes></noframes> Navigation by imagemap on home page. Viewed through a letter box. Strange mishmash of css and html3.2 tag soup, including bizarrely, a style attribute used to define the height and width of an img (valid but pointless)! A trip to validator.w3.org might be in order. > who successfully offers information pitched at kids and adults from one site? > You may like to look at www.romaninsussex.co.uk a DCMS funded site that was initiated > by the Sussex Archaeological Society at Fishbourne Roman Palace. romansinsussex! Missing most alt attributes. But nice. > Also Bamber Gasgoine's History site sorry I cant remember the web address. www.historyworld.net. Couldn't access it today. > www.imj.org.il It is pitched at kids and adults, has interactive online exhibitions and > a dig as well. Unresizeable (tiny) text. No alt text. Navigation by Flash. > what site is the most inspiring right now? > http://www.runnersworld.co.uk Yet more unresizeable text. What is it with designers that they all seem to love tiny text? Pete -- Peter M Gray Museums Officer ________________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs SkyScan service. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit http://www.messagelabs.com ________________________________________________________________________