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If the page looks a bit dull, it is probably because your browser isn't standard complient (XHTML/CSS). However, all information is still accessible.

On the road to a new Web Site

Welcome. This article is primarily directed towards people involved in IAARC to explain what is going on with the web site, but also for curious outsiders. By its nature, this page will never be completed, but will continiously be updated to reflect the ongoing work.

The new framework of the web site has now been published (2004-09-16), but the work is far from completed. All the pages of the old site will be incorporated into the new until they are replaced, and they will contain a notice about this and a link to this page.

Below, we are outlining some of the goals and specific features for the new web site.

Usability Goals:
  • Information oriented
  • Community building
  • Easy to track changes and additions to the site contents
  • Distributed maintenance/administration
Technological Goals:
  • Accessibility
  • Standard compliance: XHTML Strict, CSS 1/2
  • Persistent/friendly URIs
  • Search engine friendly; reasonable Last-modified on most pages, no frameset, good keywords/description, no unnecessary "dynamic" URIs, etc.
Features:
  • User System (public?)
  • Forums
  • Resource database
  • News service
  • ...
Why we have made some decisions in the new framework:
  • No links open in new windows? Short answer: because it isn't supported by the XHTML 1.0 Strict standard. Longer answer: we agree with this change in the standard, and find it intrusive to make such decisions on behalf of the visitor. Some people want it in a new window and others don't; let them decide for themselves. It also makes assumptions about what sort of device the visitor is using. Opening a link in a new window does generally not make sense using a cell phone, PDA, text browser or braille browser.
  • No "styles" for old/bad browsers? All contents is accessible without stylesheets. We have constructed both markup and styles to comply to standards, not so they happen to work in any particular browser. Of course, each browser has its problems, and we have tried to make tweaks for the most popular browsers.

Important changes with the realease of 16th of September 2004

  • No frameset
  • Removed ads (both the header banner and sidebar buttons)
  • Improved header graphics
  • New look of local menus (on replaced pages)
  • Front page now includes news and site updates listings, and a notes/highlights section.
  • "Submit news item" function
  • News archive is reorganized.
  • Site Updates archive.
  • Pages "Members' site", "Advertisement" and "Site Map" removed - until they can be replaced with updated information.
  • The on-line member application form was removed, and the Word document was replaced with a PDF document.
  • All old pages are rendered in the new framework, and are marked as being archived.
  • Several broken links was fixed or removed on old pages.
To be continued...