This is a redesign of the blog, which runs on Drupal 6 and features a blog and photo galleries. It’s not the first Drupal-based theme I’ve ever created, but certainly the one I’m happiest with.

If you want to know a little bit more about the process behind designing the site, I wrote about my aims for the site, then followed up today with some notes on why I made certain design decisions.

My feeling is that the design is quite unique and a good starting point for establishing an identifiable presence on the Internet. Here’s a screen-shot:

I’ll have a bit more information on this design in the portfolio in the neat future.

I’ll make my best efforts to ensure that the pages can be viewed properly in the majority of web browsers, and I’ll do my level best to test that the code is accessible and valid.

That’s why I find this post by Eric Meyer disturbing. Eric points to a recent trend where people are developing iPhone-only websites. Now, these folks are likely cashing in on a trend, aiming for ‘cool points’ by supporting the latest Apple mega-gadget, but to exclude the rest of the web?

I’ll put it this way: web standards allow you to serve up a different stylesheet depending on the device. You can have the same page, the same underlying (X)HTML code, but a different stylesheet that caters to the device in question. So why lock non-iPhone users out?

As Eric says in his post:

I might be willing to entertain the argument if the iPhone’s browser were some specialized non-web contraption. It’s not. It’s a full-fledged XHTML+CSS+DOM browser that happens to lag a bit in some implementation areas and won’t run some plugins.

What percentage of the web browsing population is using an iPhone? Take a look at your web stats and find out. Internet Explorer is still a dominant force, FireFox (from my stats) has about a 12-16% market share. Safari, Opera and Camino have less than 5% market share combined. Looking at my own stats, I see a few rogue handheld devices connecting to my sites, but why create a bespoke site for iPhones, Sony Ericssons or whatever else?

Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong, and the iPhone will gain some kind of global dominance to rival the two main browsers. Maybe then I’ll have to give it some more thought. But in the meantime, I’ll concentrate on making my pages work for the majority of the market, thank you very much.

[tags]iPhone, Design, Web Standards, Compatibility[/tags]

Though Mani touches upon the basic benefits of streamlined CSS/XHTML design, like improved accessibility, page loading and search engine friendliness, she focuses mostly on the long-term benefits of the Standards-based approach.

How easy is it to approach a redesign in the future?

Well, Mani suggests approaching the XHTML structure first, regardless of what the final design will look like – Let’s code our XHTML as if we plan to have 10 different designers apply their own unique layouts to it. If we can do it that way, then we will be able to execute minor or even major design overhauls without touching a single page in the site.

The logic of this idea is carefully explained through experience of several site designs and subsequent realigns, which were achieved with virtually the same XHTML structure.

I must say, this idea appeals as a designer. The closest I have come to this in the real world is through adapting the Sandbox theme for WordPress.

Sandbox is an incredibly complex and powerful WordPress theme that makes the best possible use of semantic XHTML, even implementing Microformats where they can be identified.

The idea behind Sandbox is that it can be skinned completely through CSS, and is flexible enough that you can move containers around in the CSS rather than constantly change your XHTML.

Essentially the whole idea harks back to the ethos behind the CSSZenGarden site: one well-formed XHTML document can be styled in unlimited ways with the right creative input. Very good article and a reminder that we should be striving to improve the art of web standards, not merely resting on our laurels!

Anyway, Cameron recently posted some useful grid images that you can use in CSS design to see how if your containers are complying to your spec or if there’s a problem. You simply apply the image as the background image for the container element and then you can refer to it as you work. Highly useful!

I’m working on taking all my blogs to a 950px wide format in the near future, so I’ll be road-testing this technique in the weeks ahead!