Something I Missed
As you may have noticed, I have returned my site to its original form from last week’s OSU-inspired design variant. (I was considering a new style sheet for Thanksgiving, but I didn’t have the time. Maybe Christmas. Stay tuned.)
It was a little loud, I’ll be the first to admit, but for Michigan week, I’ll take it loud; in fact, the louder the better (Go Bucks!).
But during all the hype, the trash talk, and more, I failed to note here one very prominent (in my mind, at least) technical aspect of the web site for The Ohio State University: it’s Standards-based.
Yup! In all of that hype, I actually took the time to open the hood and look underneath, and to my chagrin, I didn’t find a single table used for layout. Not one. Nada. I wish I could say that for the Woody Hayes site I cited, but you can’t win ‘em all, ya know? Besides, what do you want from MSM? (“Standards? We don’t need no stinkin’ standards!” — Yeah, right!)
So I looked up the design specs page, and found they have 4 templates for creating content on the OSU web site: 1 column full-width, 2 columns – right main, 2 columns – left main, and three columns (center main, two flanking). The style sheets are right there for download, too.
Last I visited the site, about a year ago, it had a different design. I like the new design: it’s simpler, cleaner, and a lot easier to navigate. It’s reasonably fast for a content-managed site, too. Just goes to show what determined, eager people can do when they put their heads together. What’s even more remarkable, when you consider just how many people at Ohio State create content (department heads, college deans, their underlings, and more) for that site: with such a large school, you’d think there’d be more errors; I have yet to see anything beyond a simple typo!
Not bad work, not bad at all…
So: a tip of the cap is due to Ted Hattemer for an excellent job in placing The Ohio State University at the top of the heap for standards-based collegiate web sites. Job well done, Ted!
