When planning for a new Web site, or refining an existing one, doing more with less seems to be a recurring theme. Web developers and designers are faced with the task of addressing a broader audience, more browsers, mobile devices, and accessibility, while spending less time and money to maintain. Sounds like a formidable challenge. Fortunately, a Web standards approach will significantly reduce the cost and complexity of development, while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability.

The Need for Web Standards
To fully understand why Web standards were created in the first place, we’ll take a quick flashback to the nineties when the Internet and the Web became more mainstream. Early Web browsers did not support CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) well enough for developers to be able to use it to control the presentation of an HTML document.

This lack of CSS support, combined with the need to write browser-specific code, led to the abuse of HTML in any way possible to control the visual presentation of a web page. The only way to ensure proper display across all browsers was to write custom code targeting each individual browser and operating system, often doubling or even tripling the workload.

This inefficient and costly process led the way for standardizing the approach to Web development, and in 1998, the Web Standards Project (WaSP) was born. WaSP’s mission was (and still is) to gain support for the Web standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

What are Web Standards?
Most people have different views on what standards are and they are often characterized as being useful only to the blind or disabled. While accessibility for all users is an important part of the standards rationale, it is just one of the many aspects of a standards-based site. When a Web site is described as complying with Web standards, it usually means that it has valid or nearly valid HTML or XHTML, it uses CSS instead of tables for layout, and is properly structured and semantically marked up.

If you are a Web professional you probably understand all that geek talk. However, if you are not, and you have no idea what I just wrote, don’t worry. The important thing to take away from this article is the understanding of the short- and long-term benefits to your Web site by adhering to these standards.

The benefits of using Web Standards
• Cut costs: As browser vendors continue to embrace these standards, the need to write browser-specific markup has diminished, thus reducing the costs of development. A well-structured site is also much quicker to maintain and update.

• Improve your searchability: Standards-based sites are better optimized for search engines, such as Google, leading to better positions in search results.

• Avoid the “build, break, re-build” cycle: In the past, when a new browser was released, the site that you painstakingly built would have to be rebuilt to work properly. Standards-based sites ensure forward compatibility with new browser releases.

• Reduced bandwidth usage: The bandwidth needed for a standards-based page is significantly less, which results in faster loading times for visitors.

• Increased accessibility: When content is separated from presentation, screen readers and alternative browsing devices can better interpret the content.

• Simpler adaptation: A semantically marked up document can be easily adapted to print, mobile phones, and other handheld devices.

• Good publicity: Producing a standards-compliant site is increasingly becoming the benchmark of good development.

In a nutshell, using Web standards saves time and money while providing a better experience for visitors. Using Web standards and separating content from presentation brings a host of benefits for today and tomorrow. For more information and the most recent updates on these standards, visit Web Standards Project (WaSP) or the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

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