May
18
- Chris Braund
- 18/May/2009 10:21
Mini-myth 1: Avoid using JavaScript
"It's not enabled universally, but that doesn't mean it should be shunned", says Bartek Szopka of software development consultancy Cognifide. "JavaScript is the focus of modern browsers, and even an awareness of those who disable JavaScript shouldn't lead you to avoid it – instead, build accessible websites that work with or without JavaScript."
Mini-myth 2: PayPal equals e-commerce
"PayPal is online payment, but clients looking to add ecommerce must work with an agency that can look at the overall shopping experience and find the right solution," says on-IDLE's Marc Peter. "There are more things to consider than the payment provider such as shopping basket integration and product display and future maintenance."
Mini-myth 3: Never use tables
This one's a real doozy. This widely circulated myth originally came because people were being told not to build table–based layouts and use CSS instead. Fair enough – but no one in their right mind said to stop using tables for creating, well, tables! Therefore, those of you trying to cobble together tables using dozens of divs and css rules, just stop.
Mini-myth 4: Flash is evil
"This comes from Flash overuse during the days of slow bandwidth. Flash is also used for annoying adverts, so when people picture Flash they see ads,"says Cognifide's Sebastian Zarzycki. "But Flash means you can deliver rich content to pretty much everyone, offering great perks over HTML. And without Flash, there'd be no YouTube – so how can Flash be evil?"
Mini-myth 5: You can start designing your website before content is available
Okay, it's true that you can present rough ideas, but content is integral to a website. Rush ahead of yourself and start creating a design before you've even got hold of any content and, at best, you'll create a nice design where the content is an afterthought. At worst, you'll create an unusable mess.