| The browser wars are over and with them the need | | | | to add new content, update existing content and |
| to develop specific code for specific browsers. All the | | | | test. Also, your site will be future-proofed. All |
| major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, | | | | compliant browsers will always support your code, |
| Opera, Safari) are now cooperating so that the same | | | | you do not need to have the developers retest |
| piece of code in a web site will look the same in | | | | every time a new browser releases a new version |
| multiple browsers, as well as looking consistent in | | | | just to make sure that the pages still look the same. |
| other browsing devices such as microbrowsers and | | | | If your site is large then separation will also mean a |
| TVs. | | | | substantial savings on the bandwidth, which in turn |
| What Are Web Standards? | | | | translates into lower hosting costs. |
| Designing with web standards is a general term used | | | | Increased Findability, Improved SEO |
| to mean that you use the following technologies, and | | | | If your site uses meaningful (X)HTML then your site's |
| that you use them correctly: | | | | content is easier for search engines and therefore |
| - HTML or XHTML to contain the content, | | | | customers to find. Some search engines score pages |
| - CSS to hold all the styling, | | | | on how well-structured the markup is, your Alexa |
| - JavaScript and the Document Object Model (DOM) | | | | ranking is affected and other SEO metrics are also |
| to take care of any scripting. | | | | improved. For example, when you separate the site's |
| In the bad old days, HTML was used incorrectly. | | | | content from the styling, your site gets lighter |
| Objects like tables are meant to be used to hold | | | | because there is less code. This means that your site |
| tabular data but instead they were (ab)used to hold | | | | loads into browsers faster and provides a better user |
| background images and other components just to | | | | experience, this represents an SEO benefit as search |
| artificially create a layout on a web page. Style | | | | engines like Google score pages on their load time. |
| information was mixed in along with the content | | | | Gain a Wider Audience, Find More Customers |
| making the code bloated and inefficient. | | | | When your site complies web standards, accessibility |
| The web standards project seeks to: | | | | is improved. That means that not only people with |
| - persuade browser makers to support the | | | | disabilities will be able to access your content, but |
| standards, as they were intended and | | | | also your site will be available to the new generation |
| - persuade web professionals to use them that way. | | | | of mobile browsing devices automatically. In other |
| Why Should I Care? | | | | words, new potential customers for free. |
| There are numerous, tangible benefits to designing | | | | Designing with web standards is not about adhering |
| with web standards, not least of all, financial savings. | | | | to a set of rules just for the sake of it: the benefits |
| Lower Costs | | | | are: |
| Separating the content from the styling makes your | | | | - real improvements to your site and |
| site easier to update and maintain. This makes it less | | | | - real financial savings. |
| expensive for the developers as less time is needed | | | | |