Changing the Face of Web Surfing
CARDIFF, Wales -- "If you want a job done properly, do it yourself," the saying goes. Web users frustrated by poorly designed sites are increasingly applying that logic to the Net.
Many who are fed up with high-profile design mess-ups are taking it upon themselves to publicly correct conspicuous corporate faux pas, right under embarrassed proprietors' noses.
These volunteer make-over consultants receive neither a paycheck nor permission for their efforts. Regarded as Good Samaritans in Web circles, many can instead expect the threat of a day in court.
Oxford University math graduate Matthew Somerville was only trying to do fellow movie fans a favor when, flummoxed by the "highly inaccessible" website for Britain's Odeon cinema chain, he decided to redesign the service himself.
Out went the JavaScript, cookies and confusing menus that had muddled many visitors looking for movie times. Somerville hosted a slimmed-down, simplified imitation on his own server, which garnered praise from many users.
The cinema chain, currently for sale in an auction that has seen bids reach 380 million pounds (about $710 million), even fixed bugs on its site after being alerted by Somerville -- then served him with a terse cease and desist, claiming he was breaching copyright and data laws. Under legal pressure, he reluctantly killed off his unauthorized Accessible Odeon Website this week, counterclaiming that the official site breaks disability discrimination law.
"I was not taking any commercial advantage from the site -- it existed only to provide a service to others and to provide a greater access than that currently provided by the official site," said the self-styled accessibility hacker, who has also voluntarily given makeovers to National Rail, The Hutton Inquiry and BT's telephone directory site to meet Web standards.
Odeon spokeswoman Kim Greenston said the official site gets over 800,000 monthly visitors, has earned 1 million pounds (around $2 million) in online tickets so far this year and is due to be tweaked according to the recommendations of a recent audit by accessibility consultants.
The redesign's resemblance to the official site, which is not visible at all to users of the Firefox and Safari browsers, had duped unwitting customers into giving personal information to a stranger instead of to Odeon, she said.
But Somerville is not a lone crusader in the unofficial march to accessibility, which ensures websites can be viewed correctly across a range of browsers and by visually impaired people -- Fleshbot, Slashdot and the Internet Movie Database all have the dubious honor of having been redesigned by their own users.
Neither is he the only one to get into hot water for showing up the professionals.
David Jones republishes articles from Wales' National Assembly website on his own Assembly Online site because the official designers "clearly don't know what they're doing."
"They're singularly clueless; the HTML and CSS are invalid," he said. "I was exasperated, so I thought I'd do it myself to show them how it might be done. My employer -- an Assembly-funded body looking to secure next year's funding -- cited it as a disciplinary offense. I don't work for that company anymore."
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Many who are fed up with high-profile design mess-ups are taking it upon themselves to publicly correct conspicuous corporate faux pas, right under embarrassed proprietors' noses.
These volunteer make-over consultants receive neither a paycheck nor permission for their efforts. Regarded as Good Samaritans in Web circles, many can instead expect the threat of a day in court.
Oxford University math graduate Matthew Somerville was only trying to do fellow movie fans a favor when, flummoxed by the "highly inaccessible" website for Britain's Odeon cinema chain, he decided to redesign the service himself.
Out went the JavaScript, cookies and confusing menus that had muddled many visitors looking for movie times. Somerville hosted a slimmed-down, simplified imitation on his own server, which garnered praise from many users.
The cinema chain, currently for sale in an auction that has seen bids reach 380 million pounds (about $710 million), even fixed bugs on its site after being alerted by Somerville -- then served him with a terse cease and desist, claiming he was breaching copyright and data laws. Under legal pressure, he reluctantly killed off his unauthorized Accessible Odeon Website this week, counterclaiming that the official site breaks disability discrimination law.
"I was not taking any commercial advantage from the site -- it existed only to provide a service to others and to provide a greater access than that currently provided by the official site," said the self-styled accessibility hacker, who has also voluntarily given makeovers to National Rail, The Hutton Inquiry and BT's telephone directory site to meet Web standards.
Odeon spokeswoman Kim Greenston said the official site gets over 800,000 monthly visitors, has earned 1 million pounds (around $2 million) in online tickets so far this year and is due to be tweaked according to the recommendations of a recent audit by accessibility consultants.
The redesign's resemblance to the official site, which is not visible at all to users of the Firefox and Safari browsers, had duped unwitting customers into giving personal information to a stranger instead of to Odeon, she said.
But Somerville is not a lone crusader in the unofficial march to accessibility, which ensures websites can be viewed correctly across a range of browsers and by visually impaired people -- Fleshbot, Slashdot and the Internet Movie Database all have the dubious honor of having been redesigned by their own users.
Neither is he the only one to get into hot water for showing up the professionals.
David Jones republishes articles from Wales' National Assembly website on his own Assembly Online site because the official designers "clearly don't know what they're doing."
"They're singularly clueless; the HTML and CSS are invalid," he said. "I was exasperated, so I thought I'd do it myself to show them how it might be done. My employer -- an Assembly-funded body looking to secure next year's funding -- cited it as a disciplinary offense. I don't work for that company anymore."
SOLOEnterprises is your one stop shop for computer consulting in Orange County, web site design and web site hosting.
Remember our motto "We Speak YOUR Language"
Computer Service Orange County
Web Design Orange County
Web Hosting Orange County
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