You may have noticed that I have been focusing on increasing the accessability of this site - high contrast colours and videos. This is to ensure that all interested parties are able to access the information they are searching for. It is often easy to forget when one is designing a website that not all things are displayed how they are intended for everyone - some people use screen readers to access the internet, others have degrees of colour vision deficiency (colour blindness). I have kept these requirements in mind while making design changes to this site.
To further assist with accessability, I have decided to upgrade the site to XML. At present, the site is written in HTML. As many of us move to accessing the internet from handheld device such as smartphones and iPads (I wish I was accessing the internet from an iPad..*swoon*), the "mistakes" allowed in HTML coding can prevent sites from showing up as intended, or chewing up extra processing (and battery) power. What a hassle, when all you want to do is explain to that woman at work what it means that you have employed a doula.
So, what does this mean for you? Don't fear, the website will stick around in this form in the short term while I redesign it in the background. Once all upgrades are complete, I will swap over the files for a (hopefully) seamless transition. It just means that when you're describing your birth plans, and someone asks you *again* "What's a doula?", you'll be able to grab your phone and say "Here! Read this!"