Introducing: ILEVA
With nine templates released in my first set of free website templates, it is now time for me to come up with something new. The andreasXX collection has become amazingly well recieved, and popular to a level that I didn't think was possible. More than 36.000 copies of my templates have been downloaded from OSWD.org alone since andreas01 was released only five months ago! I have got a number of new friends among the other open source designers, and of course I have also learned a lot during these months. Because of all good things that the open source design scene has brought me, I want to do something really good for the second template set - not only for the template users but also for other designers and for myself too. After a month of brainstorming and planning, I can now present the idea for my next open source web design project. I call it "ILEVA"!
Think of ILEVA as a quality mark. The word is is an acronym for "Independent, Lightweight, Elementary, Valid, Accessible", which I believe are five very important features of a good website template. A template that have these features (and a number of additional ones that I will list later) can be called an ILEVA-approved template. This will mean that ILEVA templates will keep a very high quality, especially since they are free to download and use! Let me explain:
Independent: The template consists of hand-written code that works with any editor. You are not forced to use any specific program to edit the template, you can use any tool you want to.
Lightweight: The template has a low load size through to light (and intelligent) use of images and optimized code. It loads in a few seconds even with a slow dialup modem connection.
Elementary: The template does not have any useless features or advanced scripts. It consists only of the basic XHTML markup and the CSS styles that are applied to it, and the content is fully separated from the presentation.
Valid: All code in the template is valid according to the W3 web standards (XHTML 1.1 and CSS2), and the markup is semantically correct to make sure that the page is readable even when the styles are disabled.
Accessible: The template has basic accessibility features, giving it atleast a Double-A rating (WCAG 1.0), and compliancy with section 508.
The idea I have is to use these guidelines (and a few additional ones) and establish ILEVA as a tool that will force me to pay extra attention to the quality and the details when I create new templates. I also hope that other designers will take on the challenge and create ILEVA-approved templates. If the term gets accepted and spread, people with high quality demands can search for ILEVA templates to get what they want. These templates may not be suitable for a HTML beginners first website, or even for experienced users. ILEVA is for professionals and for businesses which require top quality code!
Now, I have the main idea of the quality level done, but I will need suggestions and feedback from others in order to find a level that can be accepted by others as well. I also need to know if there is any interest for a project like this, and what it should be called (ILEVA "rating", "-grade", "-approval" or anything else?). This is a first step, you now know what I will do next. If you want to join the idea, you are more than welcome! Please send me any feedback you may have, no matter if you are a template user, a designer or a website owner!
Five months ago I was happy just to see my first free design online, beside all those amazing designs that I had seen on the site before I joined. Today I know that the friendly spirit between the open source designers is a great help to get inspiration and to improve the coding skills. If the ILEVA project would work out well, I believe that it can give a great result in many ways - both for the professional template users that will benefit from the high quality, and for the designers since we will all need to learn a lot of new tricks…
The word is free, all feedback is welcome.
Comments can be only posted for 14 days after the post date. If you have comments about an older post such as this one, feel free to send me an e-mail!
Comment from brett7481
Time: December 19, 2005, 5:59
I disagree Kevin. If the goal is to provide top quality code to professionals, than I think it must validate at 1.1. I think what Andreas meant by elementry, it that the template is not bogged down by bells and whistles. Just a nice loooking template, that function exceptionally well. By th way Andreas… I love the idea.
Comment from Eleserpent
Time: December 19, 2005, 7:42
Good idea
this project sounds intresting to me and i think to many web designers
The LOGO is great.
Are you going to rate the design like,
one star(*) five star(*****) etc, if you personally are going to valuate the designs.
But you should also consider that the design should looks good.
Comment from Boris Cherny
Time: December 19, 2005, 8:41
I think this is a great idea, but I have two thing I'd like to add: (1) I think there should be very tight controls about which templates are considered "ILEVA" and which are regular open source templates. I'd suggest that all templates must (just modifying your list a bit):
- Be valid XHTML 1.1 or XHTML 1.0 Strict
- Use no Javascript/scripting
- Use valid XHTML and CSS2
- Be compliant with both the WAI AAA and Section 508 accessibility guidelines
- Recieve a "thumbs-up" from a board of fellow designers (maybe the original contributors plus anyone that has an "ILEVA certified" design)
And (2) maybe change the name? Ileva sounds very… European :)
Once again, I think this is an awesome idea and I'd love to help it evolve into something we can all use as an inspiration.
Comment from pattyce
Time: December 19, 2005, 20:04
ileva is the first letter of Independent,Ligthweith, Elementary & etc
so in spanish will be the same
Comment from Sam
Time: December 19, 2005, 22:41
I think this is one of the BEST ideas I've ever heard of about web design, providing
1) The panel of reviewers are actually good designers themselves, I'm sick of seeing ugly (but valid) web templates… I vote Andreas is on that comittee, your templates actually look great (and are valid/good design).
2) I think there should be a rating or some number system to distinguish how good a template is, maybe have a couple of levels of coolness… so you could google for ILEVA-1 templates or ILEVA-2 templates… I don't know what ILEVA-1 would be, but I think it would be cool.
I'm willing to help spread the word… great idea!
Comment from ssling
Time: December 20, 2005, 4:35
yes this is an excellent idea which, properly marketed, could become an industry standard.
imho, the acronym ILEVA is a bit awkward sounding however. i suggest rearranging the letters to LEVIA. this combination suggests "lightness" (levitate, levity, etc…), "pathway" (via, le via) and cool blue jeans (levi's).
Comment from stan
Time: December 21, 2005, 22:41
i think this is a cool idea as well. you sure have stirred them up at OWD Andreas:)
Comment from Bruno
Time: December 21, 2005, 22:53
I think that ILEVA shouldn't have ratings … it complies or it doesn't, just like that. One thing I realized that is excluded (although implied) is the graphical beauty of the template.
It would be great if you make a special section were we can put the templates to a board of designers and get it ILEVA-compilant
Comment from Matt (DeezNuts)
Time: December 22, 2005, 3:16
A brilliant idea. It is a truth that some templates are simply better than others. Mine have been in the more mediocre catagory, and I'll acknowledge it. This would give me, as well as other designers, something to strive for. I like the idea of Ileva approval. MIT can't be setting all of the standards now, can they? Lets beautify the internet!
Go for it, if you need any help (I doubt you will), I'd be more than happy to lend a hand.
Comment from Flynn
Time: December 23, 2005, 20:21
This kind of quality mark would be a great idea, as it combines the quality-marks used today (xhtml,css,wcag) to a simple and powerful allround-standard.
This is exactly the way I'm trying to design my current themes.
I would suggest to use the name LIEVA so that the "L" is more emphasised and the "I" doesn't get separated when speaking it out.
And please remove the alpha-blending border around the logo, this won't render in IE6 when used as transparent logo on a website. ;)
Comment from Kevin Cannon
Time: December 19, 2005, 4:52
This really is a great idea. I have one nitpik, though. The idea of validity being Xhtml 1.1 valid almost contradicts the 'elementary' section. Xhtml 1.1 is for exactly that, advanced code and scripts. If the Xhtml is to be elemetary, and served as pure html/text, then I think Xhtml Strict 1.0 should definately be included.