Web site design

It is imperative for web designers to think critically about the structure of content and navigation on websites, especially in the African context, and in light of the various current technology convergences. A cleaner, more user-friendly layout increases clarity and comprehendability. As mentioned in my previous blog on accessibility, many people in South Africa have poor computer literacy. Therefore information on web pages may be harder for them to find and use. However, if information is arranged on a page in a clear, logical structure (which is easy to navigate), people with less computer literacy are more likely to be able to access the information that they need. A clearer structure improves the flow of information in a webpage, so that information is easier to comprehend for people who may be second or third language speakers of English. Virginia de Bolt also points out that due to the convergence of technologies (such as the use of internet/WAP on PDA’s, cell phones and aural screen readers), pages should be structured in such a way that they can be “CSS ready”. This entails “first….thinking about the semantic meaning and structure of the content your page will hold.” This will enable your page to be easily changed to incorporate cascading style sheets.

Why be concerned with accessibilty?

Webpage accessibility should concern journalists because journalists have an obligation to provide people with information through which they can actively practice democracy. The W3C Web accessibility pages say that “everyone should be able to perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the web.” The importance of the internet for the practice of democratic rights is constantly increasing. Equal access to the web leads to equal opportunity, because “the web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life: education, employment, government, commerce, health, recreation ….”. Problems which face accessibility in Africa tend to be poverty-related, particularly the lack of computer literacy, and inadequate infrastructure for internet access. Many poorer South Africans do not know how to navigate a website in order to find the information they need, therefore that information is inaccessible to them. Lack of bandwidth and unequal access to technology act as physical barriers to the access of information necessary for the practice of democracy. If we as journalists want to avoid exacerbating the digital divide, we must find ways to make our websites more accessible. This would entail using more efficient forms of coding (such as XHTML), and thinking critically about the structure and navigation of web pages.

Why learn XHTML in Africa?

Journalists in Africa should have a solid grasp of XHTML because of the bandwidth and accessibility problems which we as a continent face. Robert Niles supports the use of XHTML by journalists because the code is neater and more efficient. Superfluous information and bad HTML practices (such as not closing tags) are cut out, which makes the information easier and faster to download. This in turn means that less bandwidth is used in processing and accessing the website. This is especially important in Africa, where people have limited access to technology. The telecommunications infrastructure is very poor in rural areas, therefore telephone lines are not available for easy internet access. Computer hardware and software also tend to be obsolete and outdated. According to Virginia de Bolt, XHTML is backwards browser compatible. This is because XHTML is a combination of XMS and HTML, a new and an old technology. This means that people using old browsers (such as outdated versions of Netscape Navigator etc) can still access websites coded in XHTML. The fact that XHTML is a combination of old and new technologies means that it is useful both now and in the suture, which of great importance in our rapidly changing continent.