And while they represent good value, they are sometimes less than affordable, particularly when travel and accommodation costs are taken into account.

That’s why Keir Whitaker decided to set up Workshops for Web People, intending “to start hosting professional workshops, given by experts, put on in modern venues around the UK for around a £100–£125â€?. The first event will be Andy Clarke’s Transcending CSS: Modern techniques for designing a beautiful Web.

It’s very exciting to see someone start what will hopefully become a series of Web events outside London, attracting the best in the business to speak. WFWP is already planning other events on CSS; JavaScript, Ajax and Hijax; and development frameworks. There are even rumours of a conference…

We at Full Cream Milk wish Keir and WFWP well and we will certainly be keeping up with developments.

What has this to do with Web design? Pushing pixels seems far removed from such concerns. But Web designers and developers have as much responsibility as anyone else to incorporate the reduce, reuse and recycle mantra into our business practices, perhaps even formulating an ethical policy.

When it comes to Web design and development, you might assume the three Rs refer to reducing markup to its semantic essentials, reusing the common functionality provided by JavaScript libraries from site to site, and recycling useful structures in existing sites when designing new ones. But by applying the environmental principles to their business practices, Web professionals can make better use of their main resources: computer equipment and energy (which will be examined another time).

OK Computer

Typically, manufacturing a computer requires at least 240kg of fossil fuels, 22kg of assorted chemicals (including harmful and toxic substances such as brominated flame retardants, polyvinyl chloride, cadmium, mercury and lead) and 1,500 litres of water in a process that is over five times as energy intensive as car production. Some manufacturers are beginning to heed the environmental message, but only after strong campaigning and progress is likely to be slow. It will remain true that, unlike many other home appliances, energy used during a computer’s life cycle is dominated by what is used in production (81%), not operation (source: United Nations University).

While around two thirds of UK households have one (source: ONS), you can be sure that 100% of Web professionals’ homes contain a computer, perhaps two or three. If it can be expected that consumers will replace older computers with new, more powerful equipment every three to four years, it’s likely that Web developers will be unpacking the latest hardware every two years. Most of the discarded machinery will end up in landfill or be exported to developing countries (usually the place of its manufacture) for recycling, often carried out in poorly-regulated communities, where health risks and pollution worries are a low priority. Exploited workers, many of them children, dismantle the computers for parts, becoming exposed to the dangerous toxins that threaten their health and the environment.

Ethical steps

• Ideally, extend your computer’s life as much as possible. Upgrading an existing machine is preferable to buying a new one.
• The bulky CRT monitor taking up all that space on your desk, however, should be replaced with a flat panel TFT screen that is much more energy-efficient and contains fewer harmful chemicals.
• When finally disposing of a computer, organisations like Computer Aid International and Recycle-IT can refurbish your PC (after securely destroying the data on the hard drive) and donate it to UK voluntary groups and charities, or education, health and not-for-profit organisations in developing countries.
• To help you source new equipment, Ethiscore, the online shopping guide of Ethical Consumer magazine, provides information and ratings for many computer manufacturers.

As well as demonstrating social responsibility, reducing legal liability, and tapping into the estimated £80 billion spending power of UK disabled people (source: DWP), what else can an accessible Web site achieve for you?

Lower web costs

Because accessible Web sites successfully implement the principle of separating online content, presentation and behaviour, Web development and maintenance costs are driven down by faster production times. Redesigning can, in some cases, simply involve changing a CSS file. The streamlined approach offered by well-structured HTML that is free of presentational markup, plus CSS and scripting can also lower bandwidth costs by reducing calls on your Web server.

Dial-up friendly

According to the Office for National Statistics roughly 25% of Internet connections are still made via dial-up (source: ONS). The 2005 e-commerce Survey of Business found that 14% of businesses use a connection speed of less than 144kbps (source: ONS). Those of us enjoying the broadband revolution should recall our frustration with sites that took minutes to load via a dial-up modem: when our impatience got the better of us, we would go elsewhere. That’s still the experience of many Web users. The lighter files of accessible sites lower loading times so that users on slower connections can see your site in a reasonable time.

Stay mobile

The mobile Web is a growing market. Users of the mobile Web (with PDAs and smartphones) are increasing in number each year. 80% of UK households have a mobile phone (source: ONS) and around 20% of mobile users can access the Internet on their phones (source: Citizens Online). 24% of businesses use, or provide to their employees, a mobile connection to the Internet (source: ONS). Designing specifically for the mobile Web can be daunting, given the variety of screen sizes, devices, user agents and operating platforms. Web pages built with accessibility in mind fare relatively well in this area. Well-structured documents that make logical sense will be still be navigable and usable, even when the visual richness afforded by a computer screen is missing.

Progressive enhancement; or, horses for courses

Another important principle of Web standards is progressive enhancement. The simple HTML that marks up an accessible, well-structured Web page can be understood by even the least capable Web devices. This is then progressively enhanced with externally linked presentation styles (CSS) and scripted functionality, which may be interpreted only by more advanced Web devices. Such a strategy allows Web browsers to employ only the technologies they understand and not waste resources. Your content will always be the same and will be usable, even though its look may have changed on less capable browsers.

Functionality can also be informed by the progressive enhancement principle. For example, conventional, server-side technology can power online forms, refreshing whole pages as a visitor uses them. Where it is supported, JavaScript can be then be used to intercept the default behaviour to provide instant feedback to the user. Seeing as 5% of users do not have JavaScript (source: thecounter.com), and it’s likely that more are unable to use it because they are behind corporate firewalls, such an approach allows the widest range of people to use your site.

Improved usability

Accessibility and usability are by no means mutually exclusive. What makes a site more accessible makes it more usable too. Clear navigation and richer content benefit all users. Visitors often come to a site with a particular task in mind, be it finding information or buying your widgets. By making those tasks accessible, the easier it is for everyone to use your site. And the better their experience of visiting a Web site, the more likely a user is to become both a customer and an advocate.

Higher search engine position

Everyone wants good search results. Users want relevant links, site owners want to appear high in the list for particular terms. Accessible Web sites are more effectively indexed by search engines: their well-structured and semantically rich content allows search engines to appropriately weight the significance of content; not relying on JavaScript for functionality means search engines can index entire sites with ease; the alternative text supplied for images can be added to the relevance of search results. Accessible Web pages make a high ranking a much more likely prospect.

Access good for business

In March 2006, at the launch of PAS78 Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites, Legal and General revealed the effects of redesigning its Web site to be more accessible. These included:

• 30% increase in ‘natural’ search-engine traffic and “significant improvementâ€? in Google rankings “for all target keywordsâ€?
• 75% reduction in time for page to load
• browser compatibility (no complaints since redesigning) and accessible to mobile devices
• time to manage content “reduced from average of five days to half a day per jobâ€?, with savings of £200K annually on site maintenance
• 95% increase in visitors getting a life insurance quote and 90% increase in life insurance sales online
• 100% return on investment in less than 12 months

Accessibility deserves to be taken seriously as part of your overall Web strategy. When incorporated into your site, either from scratch or during a redevelopment phase, accessibility can have a significant positive impact on its performance, the experience of all users, and your revenue.

Clarke’s description of himself as a “visual Web designerâ€? is amply reflected in the book’s sophisticated layout and sumptous use of photography.

The book is divided into four distinct parts:

1. Discovery
2. Process
3. Inspiration
4. Transcendence

which at first brought to my mind John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, with its Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance and Psalm movements. But that’s my jazz head talking.

In the Discovery section, the principles of ‘Transcendent CSS‘ are introduced and explained. As well some best practices, like using the full power of current and future CSS, and getting the DOM via JavaScript to overcome CSS‘ shortcomings, Clarke also encourages us to share ideas and collaborate with others, citing several examples that had an important influence on the progress and adoption of CSS over the years.

The second Process section outlines a Web design workflow, collating a number of practical techniques for Web designers that have been proposed and developed by the Web community. These include a ‘content-out’ approach to markup and interactive prototypes. A subsection guides the reader through this workflow with a well realized set of example pages.

Certainly the most thought-provoking parts of the book make up its second half, Inspiration and Transcendence. In Inspiration, Clarke moves on the “fine artâ€? promised in the book’s subtitle. There is an extended discussion (with some well known examples) of grid-based design, long used in print, but only recently becoming of special interest to Web designers. Clarke argues persuasively that grids are not barriers to creativity, but can provide designers with compositional frameworks to create useful and harmonious layouts that Web users understand and appreciate.

Designers are encouraged to look for inspiration offline, rather than repeat ‘tried and tested’ layouts ad nauseam. Techniques used by interior designers and artists are suggested as methods for Web designers to get away from their workstations and renew their creative energies.

The final section, Transcendence, consists of several intriguing examples of the techniques and approach Clarke recommends to us in the book, including a subsection on advanced layout that employs a module of CSS3.

Transcending CSS is aimed squarely at visual Web designers rather than developers, though Clarke notes that is important for back-end programmers to work closely with their front-end colleagues. Like his conference talks, Clarke’s book conveys his distinctive take on designing for the Web with wry humour, style and clear examples. And while the lush photography can verge sometimes towards recipe book excessive, his voice encouraging Web designers to be designers first and foremost never wavers.