Comments on: A tough decision on accessibility & standards

By: Nemanja

Nemanja — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 23:48:45 +0000

hard but smart call. I think that this one page do you more good then old bad site you have. It will be interesting for us to show us some data after few mounts. :)

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 16:29:55 +0000

Maybe all you need now is to add an amazing promotional video of yourself and colleagues. With Marcus on the case, I'm sure you'll come up with something to rival that in no time. :)

By: Patrick H. Lauke

Patrick H. Lauke — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:05:21 +0000

i'd say that it was the right decision. even if it's only a holding page, at least it shows an understanding of, and commitment to, current best practices. certainly a decision that wasn't taken lightly, and for that i take my hat off to you. nice one.

By: Paul Boag

Paul Boag — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 09:16:05 +0000

Hi Dennis, yes that was an interesting one. Its one of a random set that loads and I had my doubts myself. However, I get feed up with sites using the same kind of boring stock imagery and so couldnt resist shaking things up a bit when I stumbled across that one :)

By: Dennis Lembree

Dennis Lembree — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 03:17:23 +0000

Yes, I agree with your decision Paul. You must practice what you preach!

By: Carl Grint

Carl Grint — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 21:58:15 +0000

I think for yourselves, you have made the right decision, if it feels right for you. Although, and this is only personal, not too sure about the gentleman and young lady image at the top right corner ;o)

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 17:15:26 +0000

I know what it is like having sites that I want to work on (that have stayed the same for many years), and not having the time to change them. At least the new holding page shows off the new things that the old site couldn't. Even just one page like that (plus the example sites you link to) could help potential clients to choose you, I guess.

By: Paul Boag

Paul Boag — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 16:49:31 +0000

Hi Adam,
I did consider the possibility to linking through to the old site however I am not sure that would have helped much as it wasnt just the build which was out of date, it was considerable amounts of content too. Also considering the new site is only a month or so behind I thought the risk was manageable.
As for your comment about clients taking down their sites… No I am not suggestion that for one moment. We are a web design company. Our site is supposed to be an example of the quality of our work. This is not true of our clients. Think of our site as an example of our product. If a client had a faulty or obsolete product I would confidently recommend that they updated it or removed it from the marketplace. That is exactly what we have done here.
To be honest I am not sure if it was the right decision or not but what I do know it dumping the old site has put us under considerable pressure internally to get off our ass and get the new site live!

By: Adam Stone

Adam Stone — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 16:18:27 +0000

Being in the same position as you Paul with a site that is three years old and full of the oldest tricks in the book AND desperately trying to find the time to build the spanking new standards compliant version, I can totally sympathise. However, I am not sure that you made the right decision in replacing it with an apology. As far as I am concerned the message should always come first followed closely by the messenger. What next - convincing all your clients to take there original sites down as they don't fit the mark anymore? Perhaps another route would have been to put up a temporary replacement home page with a link through to the original site after explaining the reason for the hold-up. That way you would have got your message across but not run the risk of turning an equal amount of new business away who have only been given a glimpse of your potential.