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Site Review: 2002 Olympics

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the 100-click-dash dept.

Andy King writes: "If Olympic Web sites were an event, Salt Lake wouldn't even take the bronze. Our review reveals some gnarly accessibility moguls." There's another review of the site which mentions the many accessibility problems that the Sydney Olympics had with its website. The site doesn't appear to work at all with konqueror.

7 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. You guessed it... by squaretorus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Heres the address: http://www.saltlake2002.com/

    1. Re:You guessed it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Modded up to 5 and you don't even post a link? Here it is, anonymous as it ought to be:

      http://www.saltlake2002.com/

  2. How many plugins! by The+Whinger · · Score: 2, Informative

    It renders fine in Mozzy, but at the bottom of the homepage:

    Plug-ins needed:

    Flash
    Windows Media
    QuickTime
    Adobe Acrobat

    Not very viewable with Lynx ;).

  3. Re:Huh? Are we looking at the same site? by perky · · Score: 2, Informative
    The site that was done by IBM for the last games was built strictly ro a specification delivered by the IOC. The spec didn't mention alt tags, and since it would cost a significant amount of cash to put them in on a site of that size, they didn't. Put the blame where you think it rests, but like many many large IT projects that have problems, I put it at the feet of those who wrote the spec.


    To me it makes perfect sense for the spec to be developed in partnership with the experts, as well as the deliverable since most people who write specs for large IT projects don't really know what they want.

    --
    "The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
  4. Why the page doesn't display in Konqueror by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's the reason the page doesn't display in Konqueror (part of page source follows - don't worry, it's short).

    <script language=javascript src=/x/inc/get_guid.asp></script>
    <script language=javascript src="http://a799.ms.akamai.net/3/799/388/aa5324979 fa989/www.saltlake2002.com/x/js/xtd_funct.js">& lt;/script>
    <script language=javascript src="http://a799.ms.akamai.net/3/799/388/cf806351e 98dbd/www.saltlake2002.com/x/js/stdframe.js">&l t;/script>
    <noscript>Javascript must be enabled to view this site.</noscript>

    Note that this is almost ENTIRELY the content of the page. So, in short, it's a combination of hideous web design and one of the handful of javascript-related features (loading javascript from an alternate location via "src=") that isn't yet implemented in Konqueror.

    Whatever happed to the "KISS" principle?...

    --
    Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
  5. nice resemblance by tijsvd · · Score: 3, Informative
    Compare this with this. It's clear that not too much work was done, the site was just copied from the NBC site. As stated in the review, it has the same dull titles: "NBC Olympics" became "Olympics".

    It is really sad that the IOC couldn't hire an independant site builder to create the site here.

  6. Re:IBM DIdn't do it this year by Vagrant · · Score: 2, Informative

    IBM got out of the olympics business because it isnt worth the investment.

    Nobody makes a big deal if the site can handle millions of hits; is usable; has accurate info. But if something goes wrong, you can bet that everyone will be talking about how bad it is, and how IBM screwed up.

    There is a small chance of failure, but a very high cost (negative PR and spin-doctoring to undo it) when failure occurs. There is a high chance of success, but little rewards to reap in the end. It's just not worth the risk.