Traffic on I-95 in Delaware has always been surprisingly terrible, made worse by the fact that you have to pay a two dollar toll for the privilege. So, when driving home from Delaware yesterday, I was excited to see this billboard:

DelDot is stepping up to improve the experience, dial down the congestion. I am on board. What’s the new plan? What’s the 5th lane? Upon arriving home, I quickly went to my computer to see, and disappointed and embarrassed found this:

Let’s go through what’s wrong here…

THE HOME PAGE
What it should be: A synopsis of what the project is, a map of the area it will impact and a timetable of when work will be ongoing, as well as an area for breaking or current news, such as where and when to expect construction delays.

What it is: An oversize version of the same horrid logo used on the billboard (it takes a rare stroke to make a logo that works equally poorly on both a black and white background).

THE INTERIOR PAGES:
What they should be: Presuming we want to keep the six links to different areas of known congestion in Delaware (which isn’t the best navigation, but works effectively), the subsequent pages could be a more focused look on how and why each of these areas will be impacted by the project, an explanation of where they fall in the overall timeline, and a map or diagram of what the results should look like.

What they are: Photo galleries. Each page has a series of photos of the current state of that area. No context (as in “Before” with “Projected After (coming soon)”), no explination and of no value to anyone.

I take that back, the photos and the information buried somewhere on the site about the winning bidder on the project are likely relevant information for contractors who want to ascertain as much as they can before they put in their bid. But, if the site is for contractors, then WHY BUY OUT A BILLBOARD ON 95 TO PROMOTE IT?

The costs of even one of those billboards (and there are more than one) for just one month will cost well beyond the cost of hiring a freelance web designer to properly architect, redesign and add real value to this site. And if you were thinking that perhaps DelDot will add that information once it has it defined, I will link you to this 43 page Powerpoint proposal in PDF format, buried on the site that includes relevant information, diagrams, maps, timetables and details that people will actually want to know about The 5th Lane Project.

On page 11 of the PDF it is mentions that this current state of I-95 is Level of Service F (for failing). I have to submit the same grade for current state of the I-95 DelDot website. I hope that as they put millions of dollars into fixing the former, they think to put a few hundred dollars into overhauling the latter.

When I lived in Delaware every Tax Day the post offices would paste a sign on their door noting that while they were closed, here is the closest location open for time-stamping your taxes. A single piece of paper on the door with a single address listed; it was simple and effective. Any procrastinating tax preparer at the eleventh hour is going to start at their local post office, and then proceed from there based on the instructions provided.

But Maryland didn’t provide any instructions. The Rockville Post Office was open to the public, but there were no signs, no workers, no notes, no instructions, no clear path at all what to do. There were also a dozen eleventh hour tax preparers inside befuddled and frustrated.

Somewhere in Maryland a post office was collecting filings. How hard would it have been to make that location known to the people of Maryland?

One of the primary concepts of modern web design is the separation of style and content. For many years when table layouts, tags and inline attributes likeroamed the web, it was impossible to disconnect the two; but, with the advent of stylesheets, separation it became an achievable goal.

I have spent years advocating building web sites that render legibly when stylesheets were turned off: because it is how some mobile browsers or antiquated browsers will render the site; because many people require accessible website that can be rendered by text-reading browsers; because it just seemed like the right thing to code.

Many web designers agree, or will at least say they do. But one day a year, we all are asked to prove it. For 24 hours we, the site owners, are asked to turn off their stylesheets and show the world if truly all that’s left is content. That’s CSS Naked Day, and that’s today.

So, this is what my site looks like naked or sans-design. All the stylistic elements, from color to typography to background imagery, all contained in the CSS, have been turned off. If you think its hideous looking, you are right, but you were able to read it. (You’re already through fourth paragraph), and that’s what counts.

The stylized version will be back tomorrow, until then, enjoy the naked version of Robleto.com, and click here to learn more about CSS Naked Day.