Emerging Standards and delicious
I attended a very interesting seminar last night. “Emerging Standards in Web Design,” given by a web design and training firm called Antharia. The instructor, Jordan Dossett,talked about lots of great stuff. Keeping important stuff on your site “above the fold,” designing for the lowest common denominator user resolution (800×600), browser limitations, navigation, and, of course, the fact that web standards always changing.
I personally (as a user) hate Flash and have always refused to use or learn how to use it. She said a big thing now is using what’s called a “random rotate script” to create a Flash-like image that changes everytime the user changes or reload pages on a site. Which is EXACTLY what we made for the MIT CSR EPO website several years ago: two pics from Chandra in the top banner that changed with each reload. Guess I was ahead of the times on that one 
, although I must admit the javascript for it was implemented by one of my Harvard Extension classmates.
Funnily, Jordan turned out to be one of my sister’s pet sitting clients. She had talked to them at Antharia about doing the Pet Companions website, but it didn’t work out and I ended up taking it over. Ha! Nepotism beats talent every time! (Antharia is REALLY good) 
I discovered something new yesterday. Del.icio.us It’s a “social bookmarking” site (and just about the coolest URL ever!). You register, list your favorite website, and anyone else can see your list. I like it because you can have your favorite websites at your fingertips anywhere you go, even if you don’t have your own computer with you. Now, for the social aspect, if I can just get some of my friends into it too…
