So, a bunch of people think that by “going naked” today that they can make the web better by promoting web standards, proper semantics and yadda-yadda. Now, I’m all for web standards and XHTML and all that, having been on the X Philes list since it started and generally encouraging standards, but this is a bloody silly idea.
Here are two scenarios for you, decide which is more likely:
- A user stumbles on a site that is stripped of CSS and follows a link to the main Naked Day site, where they read all about the purpose (which isn’t actually explained in any detail) and say, “By George, I should be making my site better, like this great looking site!”.
- A user stumbles on a site that is stripped of CSS and says, “By George, this site is either hideous or broken, best be going to another one that actually works”.
Sorry guys, but who is it you’re actually trying to reach? Either people already know about standards or not, and then either care or not. Making your site look crappy, even if perfectly usable won’t convince anyone. Just because it’s usable without stylesheets doesn’t mean people want to use it. You see that’s the side of usability that everyone seems to have forgotten for this idiocy: that you have to make the user want to use the site. If anything, this will have people running for the table-ridden sites that don’t look like they’re broken.
Here at Solitude, we appreciate the spirit of the day, really, but the implementation is broken; we’ll keep the clothing on, thanks.