In my last post, I mentioned how I felt a bit underwhelmed at the coding practices behind the new msnbc.com website. Judging by the majority of the response (and the ‘web elite’ response at that), I have no idea what I’m talking about. Doctypes apparently are throwaway items in standards-based web development, and using TextMate automatically makes you a web expert.
I admit that I could have been a bit more tactful with some of my previous comments, but I did compliment the design, and I am still very impressed with it. However, even after the explanations and the excuses about 10 year old code and CMS limitations, something doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I feel like the front-end development on the site could have been executed better.
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Yes, ladies and gentlemen: it may look glossy, but the all-new ‘web2′ msnbc.com doesn’t have a doctype declaration, among other problems.
This is what happens when Microsoft tries to make a website.
It was quite a sad reality to discover. My friend and coworker, Sean, told me about the MSNBC.com site redesign tonight on IM, and at first I was blown away - visually they can give themselves a high five. I noticed that the load-time was a bit top-heavy, but it soon turned out to be the least of this site’s problems.
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Maybe because they’re so undocumented and ambiguous, but there’s something about Cake URL routes that have both fascinated and frustrated me. In my one+ year history with Cake, I have gone about several methods of planning and executing routing, striving to provide a clean, relevant (& seo friendly) url structure without being counterproductive to the conventions of Cake.
Recently I had a rather unique challenge come across my plate. It was a potentially complex routing situation where the parameter needed to be between the controller and the view in the url structure. Visually, ‘/controller/parameter/view’. It made total sense seo wise, and if I could make it work right, wouldn’t affect Cake conventions at all. However, I wasn’t even sure if this method was possible.
The solution, as it turns out, was amazingly simple.
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This blog belongs to Jade Rauenzahn, a 23-year-old web developer living in Hell's Kitchen, NYC.