This web site has been built to showcase the values we apply to our clients projects. While not every project we do involves web development, the principles driving our own web development can be applied to every client project: excellence, accessibility and ease of use.

This site has been built using XHTML and CSS. Somnia is a supporter of The Web Standards Project a movement striving to standardize development practices across the internet, through development standards and encouraging users to upgrade their browsers. For more information on recommended browsers and XHTML/CSS visit www.webstandards.org

Technology goals and values:

• Web Standards: This web site validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Read about best practices to learn about how this type of web build can help your organization.
• Cross Browser/Platform Usability: Browser testing occurs seamlessly adjusting pieces of the layout depending on your browser and operating system.
• Optional Flash: This site uses Macromedia Flash for rich media. If users do not have the plugin, alternate graphics are inserted without any user prompting. (see sidebar to turn Flash on/off)
• Optional DHTML Menu: If necessary the DHTML menu (drop down menu system) is automatically replaced with a static version. (see sidebar to turn drop down menu on/off)

• Third Party News Feeds: On several pages we have included news feeds from third parties (Yahoo Technology etc). This was done by grabbing the third party RSS feed (a standard, XML based syndication format), then using an XSLT stylesheet to display the resulting XML file seamlessly into our web site. The future possibilities for information dispersion and data management using this and similar technologies are significant and growing daily. If you would like to learn more about how powerful technologies like these can help your organization, contact us.

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): This site uses CSS for its visual layout. This allows us to separate our content from it's presentation, decrease page load times, increase readability on all browsers and devices (PDAs, Phones, etc.) and make the site easier to maintain. For an interesting demonstration of the power of CSS, visit www.csszengarden.com
  
• Font sizing: At the top left of each page are two text sizing buttons. Use these to adjust the font size of the content on the page. Through user testing we found font sizes that cater to a large spectrum of users while maintaining the design integrity of the site.
  
  

If you have any questions about the build of this site or how a similar build could help your organization, or your clients organizations please contact us.