I need to learn web design. Now.

[conuly]

And what, you ask, prompted this revelation?

Why, elementary, my dear friends. It was the realization that every site on Staten Island cultural/historical things has really, really, really shitty design. Gratuitous flash. Words that go over pictures (or under them). Browser-breaking pages. No information on how to volunteer, which, really, would've been appreciated, thank you.

I need to learn some basic code skills so I can go over to those various places and bash them over the head with my l337ness until they let me redesign their really badly designed pages. There's just no excuse for some of this...!

This all started because the other day, when I was at the children's museum (which badly needs some renovations in the best parts - anybody wanting to donate money to anything for my birthday would be reccommended to send it towards Snug Harbor, particularly the SICM), I heard a CD playing. It featured a song about John A. Noble, who apparently, aside from creating Snug Harbor, had quite an interesting life. He's the best-known artist you've never heard of, something like that :)

Anyway, it had a nice melody, and I was trying to find it online, but I couldn't. I'll have to just ask them at the desk next time I'm over there, probably tomorrow. While I was looking online, I found a host of other things which... my eyes will never recover.

Edit: In more prosaic errors, there is simply no excuse for answering a question like "How do I volunteer at Snug Harbor?" with the following:

Volunteer opportunities at Snug Harbor include:

* Gift ShopSales
* Site Tour Guides
* Special Events, Performance Ushers
* Administrative Office Work.
* Help serve your community in a friendly, arts-filled environment.

There's no information on how you get a job volunteering there, which, I think, was the pertinant part of the question. There are no clearly visible links saying "CLICK HERE TO VOLUNTEER!", either. As far as I know, you have to show up at Snug Harbor, wander around until you find a building, and ask at the desk. And since the buildings may not actually be part of Snug Harbor proper, you might end up having to repeat this procedure. Bad answer! Bad! No cookie!

Comments

[beetlebomb.livejournal.com]

I, too, want to learn web design.

We have a Snug Harbour here in Canada too! My aunt and uncle used to live there for awhile. It's just outside of Lindsay, Ontario.

This museum sounds interesting. I would like to see a link about it.

[conuly]

http://statenislandkids.org/

Other than the fact that some exhibits need a major overhaul (noticeably the adventure area), it's the best-designed of the children's museums in the city. It allows all ages to participate, which most of them don't really, and it's not so shiny that it overpowers the fun part.

[beetlebomb.livejournal.com]

Cool! Is it far from the Staten Island Carousel? A good friend of mine is responsible for the existance of that! :) I've still yet to go there someday.

[conuly]

No, it's not, but it's damn close to the ferry.

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

If I come across sites like that, I give the link to my boyfriend (a computer geek/work from home web designer), who emails them (if they have an email address of course) and offers his services. Good way for him to make money, and places can maybe get more business without having to search for someone or know specifics of what they need. I came across that just the other day when I was job hunting, because the agency had all these broken images, wasn't too Firefox friendly, and had horrible text, scrolly stuff, etc.

[conuly]

We've all been there, though - we find out about Marquee, and about 2,000 fonts, and about blinking text, and we have to use it all, NOW.

I blame the people who invented all that crap.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

I think you hit the nail on the head on CONTENT. Content is THE most important thing (even if I prefer a site that looks nice too). You should email/talk to someone and at least they need to figure out what *information* someone might be trying to get from the website. And that you can update without knowing hardly anything if need be.

[conuly]

It's not that these sites look bad, it's that the creators got so caught up in making them "look pretty" (and failing) that they made then downright unusable. Flash is good in certain contexts, but when it slows down loading time that much, it's bad, no matter how nice it looks. Pictures are good only if you know how to put the text around them. If you can't, just use a damn link to the picture.

[beetlebomb.livejournal.com]

I, too, want to learn web design.

We have a Snug Harbour here in Canada too! My aunt and uncle used to live there for awhile. It's just outside of Lindsay, Ontario.

This museum sounds interesting. I would like to see a link about it.

[conuly]

http://statenislandkids.org/

Other than the fact that some exhibits need a major overhaul (noticeably the adventure area), it's the best-designed of the children's museums in the city. It allows all ages to participate, which most of them don't really, and it's not so shiny that it overpowers the fun part.

[beetlebomb.livejournal.com]

Cool! Is it far from the Staten Island Carousel? A good friend of mine is responsible for the existance of that! :) I've still yet to go there someday.

[conuly]

No, it's not, but it's damn close to the ferry.

[xmorningxrosex.livejournal.com]

If I come across sites like that, I give the link to my boyfriend (a computer geek/work from home web designer), who emails them (if they have an email address of course) and offers his services. Good way for him to make money, and places can maybe get more business without having to search for someone or know specifics of what they need. I came across that just the other day when I was job hunting, because the agency had all these broken images, wasn't too Firefox friendly, and had horrible text, scrolly stuff, etc.

[conuly]

We've all been there, though - we find out about Marquee, and about 2,000 fonts, and about blinking text, and we have to use it all, NOW.

I blame the people who invented all that crap.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

I think you hit the nail on the head on CONTENT. Content is THE most important thing (even if I prefer a site that looks nice too). You should email/talk to someone and at least they need to figure out what *information* someone might be trying to get from the website. And that you can update without knowing hardly anything if need be.

[conuly]

It's not that these sites look bad, it's that the creators got so caught up in making them "look pretty" (and failing) that they made then downright unusable. Flash is good in certain contexts, but when it slows down loading time that much, it's bad, no matter how nice it looks. Pictures are good only if you know how to put the text around them. If you can't, just use a damn link to the picture.