Working together for standards The Web Standards Project

How does one go about changing the focus of an entire university’s Web presence towards accessibility and standards-compliance? The Web Consulting Group (WCG) at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, began with a re-think and re-design of University’s home page and second level pages that included separating content from presentation. Once it becomes apparent that the new re-design yields better search engine results, they suddenly found themselves a popular resource to other parts of the university. At this point the WCG looked towards providing a more scalable and robust platform by means of a content management system.

Just how does the WCG continue to cultivate the Web standards philosophy within Queen’s University’s community? Tim Hannigan took time from his busy schedule to talk to us about their strategy.

Your Replies

#1 On March 17th, 2006 12:13 pm Duncan Web Design Guru replied:

“Accessibility is a core component for the Queen’s website. ”

I like here statments like these, It’s even better to see these statments implemented.

#2 On March 23rd, 2006 2:01 am Gordon Barber replied:

Well ain’t that a laugh. I’m a web developer at the Queen’s University School of Business and I’ve never even heard of this Web Consulting Group. Now that I have some folks to back me up in my standards drive, I think it’s time for a department meeting…

#3 On March 24th, 2006 12:57 pm Tim Hannigan replied:

Gordon -
we’re currently working with your department on Lenya development. On a highly decentralized campus like Queen’s, initiatives such as the WCG reaching everybody take a bit of time.
As we roll it out to campus further, I’m sure we’ll be working together much more towards the standards platform.

#4 On April 7th, 2006 8:04 am Stephanie replied:

Interesting title the Queens new clothes, I think Tim Hannigan gives a great presentation , and I think that web standards not only help out in search engines but also in being user friendly so people will want to come back ! Always glad to hear about someone else getting ti together and making there websites web standards compliant.

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