In the course of my research for work, I’ve visited a lot of web sites of winemakers and importers. Quite a few of them really stink. Lots of them are ugly, and some of them just don’t work well, especially if you use a Mac.
On the site for Michele Chiarlo, who make very fine wines, the left navigation menu is built with Java (no, not Javascript, but Java). Though it works in Windows, on a Mac using Safari it shows up with a large red X.
Elena Walch, another great winemaker, has a system of Javascript menus that wreak havoc. Again using Safari (and Firebird), I can roll over the menus, but as soon as the submenus appear (under Wines, for instance), they disappear if you try to select something. I was able to use Opera to navigate to them, but it was still awkward (I had to click on Wines, which seemed to make the menus remain on screen long enough to be clicked).
What gives, webfolk? The site I’m designing will not work this way. I was actually intending to avoid Javascript entirely, but it is in use for the tasting notes (which are pop-ups). I almost don’t care if the site is ugly, as long as it works correctly in every browser.