Why stick to Web Standards?
Certain web developers and web designers have a resistance towards using web standards. Common arguments are It’s too difficult
, It works anyway
and The tools I use create invalid code
.
It’s easy to react emotionally and build up a resistance towards learning something new and abandoning techniques you know and feel comfortable with. However, if you look at the situation logically you will see that there are many benefits to learning and using web standards. A few examples:
- Simpler development and maintenance: Using more semantic and structured HTML makes it easier and quicker to understand code created by somebody else.
- Compatibility with future web browsers: When you use defined standards and valid code you future-proof your documents by reducing the risk of future web browsers not being able to understand the code you have used.
- Faster download and rendering of web pages: Less HTML results in smaller file sizes and quicker downloads. Modern web browsers render pages faster when they are in their standards mode than when they are in their backwards compatible mode.
- Better accessibility: Semantic HTML, where structure is separated from presentation, makes it easier for screen readers and alternative browsing devices to interpret the content.
- Better search engine rankings: The separation of content and presentation makes the content represent a larger part of the total file size. Combined with semantic markup this will improve search engine rankings.
- Simpler adaptation: A semantically marked up document can be easily adapted to print and alternative browsing devices, like handheld computers and cellular phones, just by linking to a different CSS file. You can also make site-wide changes to presentation by editing a single file.
Web standards can save time and money for website creators, and provide a better experience to the website’s visitors. Besides, web standards is the future. If you’re not using web standards already, now is the time to start, or you will risk being left behind.
I used to be really guilty of that, as I’m a real pragmatist, and if something works as it is I tend to leave it alone.
That said, I’m almost there (in terms of full standards-compliance) on my personal site, just a couple of innocuous Opera “filters” to try to phase out…
This post serves as a good reminder to us all!
Yes I have to say amen to that Stuart. I work with web standards on my mind but when I come across problems I tend to use evil deeds, but on debugging stage we will have to find a way to make it work on the standards.
Hear, hear to standards!
I don’t really run into situations where I need non-standards friendly hacks to get things to work. In fact, when I code semantically and according standards from the beginning, I run into a lot less problems along the way. Development time is down, and time spent in the future updating things will be dramatically lower.
I’m a standards guy through-and-through. And what I’ve been surprised by most is that adherence to standards tends to be a HUGE selling point for clients. When you educate potential clients the importance of standards (in contrast to what the “other guy” is doing) they’ll buy your product 9 times out of 10 because of your attention to detail.
All true. We, webmasters, must comply with the rules a build a more professional Internet.
I’ve been completely standards compliant for the past several years and have been getting semantically cleaner with each website I create, because let’s face it, semantically clean is something that takes a long time to refine and get used to.
However, I am appaled, absolutely disgusted, by the fact that there are so many people out there who aren’t into standards … at all. I think the most disgusting bit is how they’re usually big corporations/governments. Never understood that phenomena really.