WHATWG – They Know HTML… Don’t They?
Even if you’ve never created a website in your life, you can notice a few major things about the WHATWG’s website.
- Their blog, which is powered by WordPress, is using the default theme with no noticeable changes.
- Their FAQ/Wiki, which is powered by MediaWiki, is using the default theme with no noticeable changes. Even the logo looks like it was thrown in there in a hurry. It’s a nice white square with absolutely no transparency. Five seconds would have made it look much more professional.
- Their forum, which is powered by PHPBB, is using the default theme with no noticeable changes. Once again, they just threw in their logo.
I understand that they would like to rely on a well-tested application rather than a custom build alternative, but can’t they at least make the pages flow together a bit more? It really isn’t that time consuming. I installed and set up this blog (custom theme/widgets/plugins) in one night. So, in 3 nights, they could customize the look and feel of the entire site and make it look less like it was just thrown together. This would help people to take their standard a bit more seriously. Well, that along with ignoring backward compatibility. Just tell people not to use it for 5 years. After the 5 years, browsers should be up-to-date. If they aren’t, I won’t feel bad when people abandon them because their favorite websites don’t work correctly.
Tags: backward compatibility, MediaWiki, PHPBB, WHATWG, WordPress
August 14th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Actually we’re just lazy.
We’re also so busy with HTML5 itself that we haven’t had much time to maintain the site.
The WHATWG is basically run by volunteers though, so if you want to help out you would definitely be welcome! Drop me an e-mail (ian@hixie.ch) or come around to our IRC channel (#whatwg on Freenode) and we’ll set you up with the privs you need to make our site cooler.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Sure, several of us in the group have the skills to rewrite the markup and CSS on those page. But we’re coders, not designers. No-one has yet volunteered their design and graphic skills to come up with a new look and feel. If you, or anyone else, would like volunteer to contribute a new design for the sites, contact me and let me know.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:50 am
o.o You should totally do it Esgar
and have me help -nudge- XD
August 15th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I may take you up on that offer Ian. I’m going on a backpacking trip on Sunday though and won’t return until the 27th, so I won’t be able to do it then. I’ll most likely get in touch with you then. Thanks!
September 12th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Hi, I’m just following up with you to see if you’re still interested in contributing a new design for the WHATWG sites. If so, email Hixie and I, and we’ll get you set up.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I’m extremely busy at the moment with other projects, but I’ll try to squeeze it in… I’ll see what I can get done (no permissions needed atm) and send an email when I make some progress.