[davesimondotcom]

For the last few years I've been wondering when Apple will embrace web standards with their website and what they'll do when they finally update the tabs they've had for 6 or 7 years now.

I've always thought that they are hesitant to go full XHTML/CSS compliant (non-table based layout) because of possible switchers visiting in Windows IE and thinking that if Apple can't make their site look right they probably can't get them to switch.

Well, that and their site is pretty damn big.

With the emergence of things like Spotlight-like XJAX-driven live searches and better support for CSS in IE7 and so on, will they change the basic look of the site? Beyond just changing the tabs from Aqua-like to something else, I mean.

I see the site as five basic blocks - the tabs (navigation), the graphic element (be that quicktime or jpg), the content (the main text column, left side on the current layout), the sidebar (informational stuff, right column on current site), and the footer. (This doesn't count for the store, which is different, with an extra column and such.)

Lately, they've been making the content and sidebar areas take up a wider area, which is kind of just getting with the times. Wider is OK now.

But they could very easily change the nav area, updating it with a live search, using DHTML for the menus (which are two layers, the tab and the sub-nav) and putting a newer, more modern coat of paint on it.

I'm tempted to mock something up just for the heck of it - kind of the way that Andy Rutledge has done with Amazon, Google and some other big sites.

It would be interesting to get a few people involved and see what everyone comes up with. Anyone interested?

It'd be an intellectual exercise, obviously not someething they'd actually use. Of course.

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

At least Apple looks good and is easy to follow. To get with the times more sites should be easy to follow like Digg etc. When macnn did their redesign I couldn't follow their news as well as before and I know I'm not alone because we all talked about that a year ago. BBC News added some cluttery tab magic scrolling section thing this week that ruined their look. I normally read Google News because content can't get simpler can it?

I also noticed this on iPod Hub landing page and want to see what happens tomorrow http://www.ipodhub.net/brb.jpg

I want to see more sites with that Ajax thing to see what the limits of it are. Don't think we will see that until we get apps that make creating Ajax stuff easy.

[davesimondotcom]

Originally Posted by Obi Wan's Ghost

I want to see more sites with that Ajax thing to see what the limits of it are. Don't think we will see that until we get apps that make creating Ajax stuff easy.

Ajax is just a way to contact the server and get info without having to re-load the page. It's that simple.

But with any technology, whether it's easy to create in a special WYSIWYG app or whatever, it's about whether that SHOULD be used. It should be about making things better and more usable, not making it "cooler."

You are right about Apple's site looking good and working well. An update should be to make things better for those of us who use the site, not just for the sake of updating. You are right about that.

[tboparis]

I think that unlike amazon and the other websites mentioned on Andy Rutledge apple's website works fine and even though it hasn't updated in quite a while i think it looks very good.

I think apple might make an update when leopard arrives.