Advice Site Standards Breakthrough -- Youth Built, Youth Run

Redesign of website makes it XHTML 1.0 Transitional and online advice more accessible. MavenGlobe Advice has been providing advice online since 1999, but has made a breakthrough that no other online advice service can boast of.

MavenGlobe Advice (http://www.mavenglobe.com/advice/), a personal project of Brandeis University student Jacob Wolfsheimer '03, announced yesterday that the new design of his site adheres to W3C coding standards for XHTML 1.0 Transitional. The creation of a site that adheres to standards of coding comes from the increasing numbers of users who are looking for advice on the go, from their handheld devices and cell phones.

Advice sites on the internet began in the form of "Dear Abby", but many have latched on to a community format where a diverse group of counselors respond to questions from users. This allows users to potentially receive more than one perspective on the issue they are facing. MavenGlobe Advice has been perfecting this approach since 1999.

MavenGlobe Advice, previously known under the names Advice for All" and Advice for the Millennium", was originally built by Jacob Wolfsheimer in the fall of 1999. At the time, he was 18 years old and had nearly three years of teen advice counseling already under his belt. As he gets older and moves on to his first year in law school, he has re-built the site from the ground up to nearly sustain its self.

By creating a way in which Jacob no longer needs to forward email messages, it is up to the counselors to log in and respond to questions, placing a greater, albeit minimal burden on them. Jacob intends to remain active in overseeing and building the site to further standards of coding for some time, but says, I am looking forward to passing duties on to another motivated young person. I know MavenGlobe Advice will lead the way for future standards in advice sites not only on a design level, but in the field of customer service response on the internet," he said. I will be around, but somebody younger is going to be the main innovator."