When Eric Meyer visited last week, we pressed him for a quote or two about the Wired News redesign. I was blown away with what he sent back. While his comments were intended for the press release and the story our Editor is writing, I asked him if I could reuse the quotes here, to which he agreed. I think his comments will get edited down for the release. But to me, they’re worth including in their entirety here:
“I simply can’t overstate the importance of Wired’s new design. It clearly demonstrates what many have been saying of late: that standards-compliant design need not be boring, that it need not sacrifice the interface conventions to which we’ve all become accustomed, and that it can work on a high-visibility, high-traffic site. This new design is at once more accessible, faster to download, more flexible, and much easier on the Web server itself. Compared to these gains, the ability to change the site’s appearance on a dime with a simple change of stylesheet is almost a minor side effect.”
“I similarly can’t say enough good things about the work done by Douglas Bowman, who has actually done what so many have only talked about. It’s work carried out with insight and precision, and both he and the engineers who worked with him deserve the highest praise– not to mention a tinge of envy, as the simple markup that now drives the site will be a great deal easier to maintain. In making their own work easier, they have also made their site better for everyone who visits. I’m more than impressed, I’m delighted.”
“Anyone interested in the future of the Web need look no further than this. Standards-based, table-free design: it’s not just for weblogs any more!”
Those words are huge, especially coming from the CSS guru himself. Thanks Eric. The launch date was just pushed back to 10/7, but that’s only two weeks from Monday …