Competing with code Hrush Jun 28, 2007

4 comments

Just a quick follow-up to Bad programmers, bad designers and Will your business self destruct?

Is there competition in India’s online travel space? Of course there is, there’s probably more competition than we’ve even heard of.

We know Cleartrip isn’t the “first” or the “oldest” or the “biggest.” We’re even on record as saying that Cleartrip is customer focussed and not competitor focussed.

But, sometimes, I see a “competitor” site using this code to create a dotted border:

<td height="2" class="td_gray" align="center">
........................................
</td>

And, sometimes, I see a “competitor” site hiring a fancy overseas design agency to be “redefined in the age of Travel 2.0″ and still have code like this:

<td height="26">
<table border="0" 
cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td height="26" bgcolor="#0099ff" 
class="whiteHeading">amazing getaway packages</td>
<td bgcolor="#28156e" class="whiteHeading">
latest deals
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="289" valign="top">
<table width="289"  border="0" 
cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td height="10"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td width="5" valign="top"></td>
</tr>

All of that code to achieve white text on a blue background.

So, sometimes, just sometimes, I can’t help but smile.