GAWDS Web Design Competition

Contributed by Jim Byrne

The competition is now closed - the winner was Phil Treble with his design Ripped - well done Phil.

About the competition

The Guild of Accessible Web Designers needs a site that is both accessible and looks fantastic. We need a site that reflects our aims, embodies our message and reflects our brand. Are you up for the challenge? This competition is open to everyone - members and non-members.

The competition will run for 4 weeks, starting from 26th - finishing on 23rd June. The entries will be judged and a winners announced on 30th June.

Email files related to your design to design@gawds.org.

A note about accessibility

Do not enter this competition if you think that the the accessibility part is not as important as the design part. GAWDS doesn't buy into the, 'this accessibility stuff is compromising my great design' line of thinking.

How the designs will be judged.

Each site will be judged against the following criteria:

• Aesthetics, colour contrast, balanced layout.
• Accessibility.
• Appropriate structured Markup.
• Flexible presentation, e.g., layout, text size; colour choice.
• Usability.
• Cross platform and cross browser compatibility.
• Speed of download and display.

Competition rules and guidance

The rules for this competition reflect our belief that a website can look great - when it is marked up as valid XHTML 1, it uses CSS for layout and presentation, and it is WCAG AAA compliant.

1. The existing GAWDS logo design must be retained.
2. The design should validate as XHTML 1 Strict.
3. The design should pass W3C WCAG AAA.
4. CSS must be used for both presentation and layout.
5. The design should work in current browsers and degrade gracefully in older browsers.
6. Client side scripting is allowed, but the site must still work if it is turned off.
7. Content and links should reflect the current site (see a summary of current home page structure below).
8. The design is for the home page only.
9. Liquid layout and not resolution or screen size specific.
10. Provide a name for your design to help identify it during the judging and subsequent presentation on the site.
11. Provide some words related to your thinking behind the design. This does not need to be more than a paragraph.
12. Must make visitors think - 'I wish our site was as good as this'.

Be innovative

You are free to go beyond the stated requirements. Surprise the judges with your functional accessible design - and your creativity. However, cross browser/platform design is of primary importantance, e.g., use of CSS 2 techniques that are not widely supported is probably not a good idea.

What do you get if you win?

Kudos, fame, infamy (infamy, infamy, everyone's got it infamy), Your design will be used on the GAWDS website, and you will get a credit as the designer at the bottom of the page with a link to your own site.

The winner can pick their prize from the choice below, second place can then pick their chosen prize - and so on down the list of winners.

• A choice of either one year's Linux Red Hat (from ScotConnect) or Windows IIS web hosting (from Open Hosting Internet Solutions).
• A copy of TopStyle Pro 3 from Bradsoft.
• A copy of XStandard Pro - XHTML 1.1 WYSIWYG Editor from Belus Technology.
• A copy of Trading Eye Shop Builder v3.1 from DPI Vision.
• A 7-day half-board break for two at the Hotel Apollo, Paphos, Cyprus (travel not included)

Assuming it is practical - the intention is that all entries will be posted on the GAWDS website.

Terms and conditions

• Each competitor can submit any number of designs.
• All designs must be original work.
• Judges decisions are final.
• No correspondence will be entered into between judges and designers.
• No entries will be accepted after the closing date.
• Judges can't enter the competition.

How the winner will be picked

• A self selected team of GAWDS members will look at all the entries and reduce them to the top 20.
• All members vote for their favourites from the top twenty. This will be a 1 or 2 day process
• The most popular 5 will be made public on the GAWDS website to be considered by a panel of celebrity judges who will decide upon a winner.

Existing Home Page structure and features.

Designs will contain the following list of page elements/structures.

• Introductory text.
• GAWDS logo; designers are free to decide how to incorporate the logo within the page.
• Header image or header text; designers are free to decide whether there should be an image or text at at the top of the page.

Main menu:

• About
• Membership
• Discuss
• Guru tips
• Training
• Publications

Sub menu

• Developers Market
• Tools and Utilities
• Favourite Resources

Footer links:

• Credits

Other page elements:

• Contact Link
• Members login link
• The developers search input form
• Two blog items, with associated dates, title, permalink, comments link and posters name.
• 5 archived news items (i.e. links to old stories)
• XML feed logo
• List of XML feeds from Web Accessibility blogs

Good luck.

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