As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, back in the late Nineties I was the webmaster for Microsoft’s accessibility pages. Back in those days IE for Windows was really the only game in town for CSS support but, I’d read about the WaSP, saw where the future was headed and became a true believer. But rather than repeat that story, I want to note that MSN’s latest facelift is apparently attempting to validate as XHTML 1 strict.
Hm. If my former employers are finally apprehending why web standards matter in terms of ease of maintenance, ease of development, reduction in server bandwidth and improvements in usability and accessibility, then perhaps it is time for me to come in from the cold. If I ever really was out in the cold.
I never really started to toot my horn about my time at Microsoft until recently. This was mostly because I was afraid I didn’t know enough. My time as a freelancer during the bust years taught me a lot but I still haven’t design web applications entirely from scratch. I think I have to start doing that.
Ah. I am just second guessing myself again. The decision I made back in the summer of 2000 was the correct one. It may have been an emotional hunch but sometimes that’s all you’ve got. I felt I was stagnating. I knew this would be bad for the team. I knew or at least felt that the only way to force myself to learn things is to throw myself into freefall. That’s what I did. I made the right choice.