Jan 01 2005
In the earliest days of the web, sites were just black text on a dull background (usually white or grey), created mostly by scientific and technology folks. As the Internet grew and became mainstream, standards for building actual sites began to develop. Of course, designers caught on and began experimenting with the web. As they did so, they used various tricks and workarounds to create sites that were much more pleasing to the eye. That is, sites that were designed.
Web standards have changed drastically since then, allowing for increased usability, accessibility and browser compatibility. Unfortunately, many designers still use the same tricks and workarounds of old to design entire sites. These tricks include using images for text, designing for one browser, or using tables for layout. In fact, until recently, I used to be one of those designers. I know better now.
As a client and end-user, there's no real justification for you to know the nitty-gritty of the techno mumbo-jumbo of it all. What is important for you to know are the benefits adhering to web standards can bring, both in terms of usability and investment. Here are some of the most important reasons.
Faster load time Graphics aren't the only things that cause a site to load slower than desired. Bloated, superfluous code - such as all the tags included with using tables for layout - can do this too. Web standards significantly decrease the complexity and amount of code. Less code means a smaller file size, which means the file is displayed faster - users don't have to sit and wait. This is a big deal for people who pay for bandwidth usage every month.
Developer Independence Many web designers use WYSIWYG editors to create websites, without ever looking at or editing the code. The code is written by the program. (I'll admit I use such an application - but I still hand-code sites I create. I no longer use WYSIWYG editors - every site is now 100% hand-coded.) These software applications, which very useful, have a tendency to really bloat coade, especially with markup native to the program. Web browsers don't recognize that kind of markup. The use of these programs and not ever editing the code or manually cleaning it up creates a developer dependence since the original developer is the one who can truly understand what's going on behind the scenes. If such a developer were to go out of business, the site would need to be handed over to another developer. Figuring out poorly coded sites can be excruciatingly difficult, takes more time than building a site from scratch, and can cost you a lot more in the long run.
Search engines love clean code Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are integral to web standards. They separate presentation from content. This is important for a site's search engine rankings. Search engines look at more than just meta tags (keywords). They look at a page's content and code to index sites as well. They have trouble with non-standard code, such as that automatically created by WYSIWYG editors. Sites with extraneous code generally do not rank well in Google or other search engines.
Web accessibility Loosely defined, creating an accessible site means making a site viewable to the widest range of people (and platforms) as possible. This includes with disabilities who use assistive technology, such as screen readers for the visually impaired. Also, more and more devices are being use to surf the web, including PDAs and mobile phones. Sites that adhere to strict web standards can usually be seen flawlessly on such devices. This can exponentially expand your audience as these markets continue to grow.
Browser compatibility Web standards allow for sites to be viewable in a larger range of browser and platforms. That includes older browsers. This is important when one considers that it takes about eighteen months for a typical web user to upgrade browsers. Sites that use old tricks may not display correctly in all browser, especially older ones. In the end, it's just good business and marketing sense to have your site adhere to web standards. Doing so only costs a fraction of a site budget, but the PR and ROI returns can be huge.