The Cult of Zeldman

If I ever were to join a cult, it would most likely be led by Jeffrey Zeldman. After having recently finished his book on Designing with Web Standards and having been a long time reader of A List Apart, this man has been the only person capable of compelling me to join the faithful. Once loathful of H1-H7 and p tags, I now find it impossible to live without them. They are the object of my semantic wet dream. Although Zeldman is more Traditional than Strict, his writing style is so persuasive that it's difficult not to become a standards evangelist.

Now, for any of you that stopped reading when you got to the word standards and flipped over to code view, you most likely find me to be hypocritical. Don't be so quick to judge. I'm currently in the process of redesigning this site to be valid XHTML-Traditional, if not Strict, and work in as many web standard browsers as possible. I'm also making it a priority at work to move to a more standards based design.

It's a tough road to follow. Browsers that once thought charmingly of my table layouts have ended up acting like jilted lovers, silently tearing my neatly positioned elements apart. But as time has passed, I've been able to smooth over my relationships. Even the callous PC IE 5 has begun to read my layouts properly.

All I can say is, switch now. You'll never regret it.