Rodent Regatta

The w3c.org folks have updated the markup validator.

Still 246 errors here!

No two carpenters use the same tools. Not the same brands. Not the same types or sizes. Web designers share this fact with carpenters. Each designer uses favorite tools for the work they do.

However, some patterns are emerging among those who focus on standards-based design work. In the personal publishing area it seems to me that Movable Type and WordPress are the two tools that are most prevalent behind weblogs that validate and support web standards.

As for editors and such – you may want to review this.

If you’ve had a hard time accepting that standards-based designs – in which content (XHTML) and style (CSS) are separated – are superior for any of the regularly-stated reasons, Scriptygoddess has a specific project that is convincing.

For those of us who still wrestle with padding, margins, colors, lines, headings and all of the other ”styling effects” in CSS, this provides incentive to press on!

Hey, Katie and Angie. Let’s go to Sydney in September, then tour for a couple of weeks in October. I can learn something about web standards, and you can catch up with old friends. Everybody check your vacation schedules. This is more than a pipe dream!

Can a novice install WordPress and be assured of:

1. porting existing design templates from Movable Type?
2. having a weblog that validates?
having a weblog that is extensible with plugins?
3. getting tips from a wide cross-section of users?
4. spending less time doing the above steps than modifying existing Movable Type templates and entries to make them validate as XHTML Transitional?

Latest count for Rodent Regatta: 239 validation errors.

OR…

Would it simply be easier to stick with Movable Type, learn CSS, select a tool for creating entries that validate (TopStyle Pro or StyleMaster) and continuing to build on the small amount of knowledge that I’ve already got?

Something to sleep on.