Independent.co.uk redesign

Following the lead of The Guardian and The Times, The Independent’s website has undergone a web standards makeover.

The redesign feels more like a work in progress to me as it looks largely the same as it’s predecessor — fixed width, same fiddly navigation — the only thing which immediately stands out is the switch to a larger Verdana font, inline images in articles and a splash of beige on the header. Hardly inspiring.

It’s bravely marked-up as XHTML Strict but, alas, it doesn’t quite validate. They still have a few (511) errors to deal with on the home page. It also looks like (as with Guardian Unlimited) they’re running a Java-based CMS:

<!-- 
DEBUG CODE IN DOAD.JSP
sec.getUniqueName()=foopre
pub.getName()=independentLondon
dartServer=http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net
dartSitepublication=sport.independent
-->

Oops.

Perhaps they’re restricted by short-sighted bosses who only look at the local competition, but you’d think the designers at these huge media companies would spend a little more time browsing other newspaper offerings on the web. In fact, they only need to visit one site to see exactly how a newspaper should be represented on the web — Khoi Vinh’s masterclass in understated elegance, nytimes.com.

Posted by Olly on January 24, 2008 at 1:48 pm in commentary, css
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Work in progress

I’ve started work on tidying up lylo.co.uk. Rather than spend weeks getting it all in order, I’ve decided to just push things out as and when I complete them. Note how that cunningly introduces a waiver for all the bugs and validation issues I’ve no doubt let loose this evening :-)

So, a lot of content has been removed for now but I’ll be incrementally updating the site as and when over the coming weeks (i.e. months).

Posted by Olly on January 4, 2008 at 10:40 pm in news
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About 2007

*Blows dust off blog*

Happy New Year, reader!

Here’s some music I loved in 2007 (which wasn’t necessarily released in 2007)

• Brett Anderson - Brett Anderson
• Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
• Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
• Róisín Murphy - Overpowered
• The Coral - Roots and Echoes
• Thurston Moore - Trees Outside The Academy
• Grantura - Waves
• Radiohead - In Rainbows
• Hot Chip - DJ Kicks
• Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
• Tommy Guerrero - From The Soil To The Soul
• Larry Levan Live At The Paradise Garage (Strut)
• Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
• Cara Dillon - After the Morning
• Sigur Rós - Agaetis Byrjun

Fairly ordinary, I think.

I clearly haven’t spent enough time buying/borrowing music this year and I have no doubt that I’ll have even less time in 2008. Time keeps speeding up. I’m starting to see why most people (especially parents) just listen to whatever music features in the discount shelf in Sainsbury’s, and why Heart FM is so popular…

Posted by Olly on January 3, 2008 at 4:09 pm in music, news
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