Website Design Philosophy
At The Open Road, we believe very strongly in open standards. Standards such as those developed and promoted by The World Wide Web Consortium and The Web Standards Project. The benefits of open standards are many but include the accessibility of information regardless of software being used. The application of these standards by The Open Road results in websites that are accessible by just about any modern web browser.
All Visitors Welcome
At The Open Road, we believe that it is a mistake to make websites that are tailored to specific software and thereby shutting out potential visitors using different software. A website is like a storefront. Imagine a store where only people wearing black shoes are allowed to view the window displays. This is clearly a ridiculous scenario. Then why to so many websites shut out poeple not using specific software? At The Open Road, we strive to make sure no visitor using a up to date web browser will ever receive a message similar to "to access this site, you need software X".
Standards for Longterm Compatibility
But there is more to using open standards than client software independence. Using open standards also results in websites that are more forward compatible and maintainable. Those sites that are tailored to specific software run a far greater risk of becoming obsolete as specialized software changes to the next version, or as specialized software becomes outdated and loses popularity.