p a s s i o n + r e a s o n

In my new capacity as the Webmaster and Information Architect for the UNESCO Bangkok website, I am responsible for transforming the whole website into a semantic web-standards compliant site.

This is no easy task, as there are some many tens of thousands of pages of HTML. There is lots of content, split across several different functional units. There are databases, and there are also some rudimentary content management systems (developed in-house).

In fact it's a bit of a mind numbing task as I peruse the (wildly) different sections of our website.

Already several redesigns are in swing. However, no one has any experience with XHTML+CSS layouts - pages are coded in Dreamweaver with tables. It's like any web person is given a copy of Dreamweaver and told to just go.

It's a bit of a wild frontier that I'm stepping into. I will reign everyone in, because I have to. I will introduce semantic markup, because it'll preserve my sanity - and futureproof our sites. I will introduce XHTML+CSS layouts because it's less costly on so many levels (bandwidth, maintenance, etc.). I will also develop a style guide with our graphic designer, because it'll make our documents easier to be mentally digested.

I will not bash people on the head. I will not be a bible* thumper.

I will do this because "it's so gooood, that you will know you want it, that you need it... baby."

*bibles include: Designing with Web Standards by Jeffery Zeldman and Eric Meyer on CSS

UPDATE: Since I think intellectual/brainy is really sexy, have this for a further read.