I-cre8 (2)
The I-cre8 site is back! After undergoing an overhaul and redesign since last year’s “Notable” award there’s been a marked improvement. Functionally, it’s still a simple site but it’s strengths are in its solid construction and attention to detail. Keyboard navigation is a breeze due to the clear onfocus styling, there’s some neat use of unobtrusive JavaScript within the Web Assist section to show and hide content and the contact form is very usable in it’s use of error highlighting.
On this positive note, we were impressed to see new features like a site map, an accessibility statement and a useful custom 404 page. On the other hand, we were bamboozled by the absence of simple elements like a robots.txt file, letter-direction declaration, meta data and a Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) label. Also, it would have been nice to see some alternative style sheets for handheld and print media.
Where the site disappoints, though, is in the “Skip Links” functionality (which randomly worked in some browsers but mostly only in Internet Explorer) and the slightly redundant use of alternative text in places like the Featured Partners and Featured Projects sections on the front page (where the name of each partner/project is provided in a heading tag and then repeated within the alternative text for each related image).
Overall though the I-cre8 site, designed by Dave Buchholz, has definitely moved up a gear and therefore deemed eligible for an Award Level of: “Quality Universal Design.” Good work Dave!
Mike Cherim responds:
Posted: July 23rd, 2007 at 8:22 am →
Good job, Dave!