Redesign Notes

Behind the Lindquist Consulting, Inc. Redesign

Unveiled Sept. 11, 2004, the Web Site has been rebuilt to conform to Web standards. Lindquist Consulting, Inc. (LCI) is now easier to use, quicker to access and much more streamlined for producers to update and modify.

The site has been rebuilt to comply with Web standards set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The site now relies entirely on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for all page layout and design details. Tables and spacer GIFs, often used to set up and control page structure, are gone. All font tags have been stripped out. The markup language we use to describe the content of these pages now adheres to strict Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) rules, ensuring LCI will be compatible with past and present Web browsers, as well as future browsing applications.

The Standards

CSS is a simple but powerful mechanism for defining the style and presentation (fonts, colors, margins, and borders) of Web documents. It was formalized as a W3C recommendation in 1996, but has faced resistance from large content-based websites because of poor Web browser support. The recent release of newer, standards-compliant browsers provides a more consistent platform where CSS can be used to achieve predictable formatting results.

XHTML combines the power and versatility of XML (Extensible Markup Language) with the familiar Web language of HTML. XHTML is the next version of HTML, and is designed to allow for richer Web pages capable of displaying on a widening range of browser platforms, including mobile phones, PDAs, and televisions.

Content based in XML and XHTML can be easily modified to be read by the new browsing applications emerging on a variety of Web devices. Through the use of CSS, the content can be set up to render differently in each device according to its inherent capabilities.

By switching to XHTML and completely adopting CSS, LCI pages now load faster, and are at once more accessible to all Web browsers and specialized browsing environments used by the visually or physically impaired. By stripping out font, color, and margin rules from the markup, and aggregating all those style rules into a CSS file, design changes can be propagated to all pages instantly.

You can test to see if the LCI Web Site conforms to the W3C specifications by clicking the W3C buttons located at the base of each web page on this site. Once clicked, you will be redirected to a W3C–hosted or W3C–endorsed validator.

Protecting Older Browsers

Older browsers weren't built to support CSS, and only recent versions of the major browsers support CSS adequately enough to avoid unpredictable layout problems. To get around this challenge, CSS can be effectively hidden from browsers incapable of displaying the content properly. The details of the new LCI design are only visible in newer standards-compliant browsers.

LCI content, in its entirety, can still be accessed from every available commercial browser — even the first versions of Netscape or IE. Those who continue to use older browsers will see a much simpler LCI — one that offers the full content in a stripped-down design.

Feedback

To report significant bugs with the new design, or send feedback, please use the Contact Form. If you would like to ensure LCI is displayed as intended, we encourage you to visit the Browser Upgrade Campaign page from the Web Standards Project to learn how and why you should upgrade your browser.