If you’ve read much about web design or web development, you’ve probably seen the phrases “web standards” or “standards-based design” thrown around. It’s one of those topics that’s very important to web professionals, but we have a difficult time explaining the significance to our clients. That’s because the difference isn’t always easy to see — often, you can’t just put a standards-based site next to a non-standard site and say, “See, that’s why standards are better.” So I thought it would be helpful if I tried to explain the benefits we see from web standards and why, regardless of who builds your website, you should demand it be standards based.
Web standards — The blueprints of the Web
Most of us, at some time or other, have had to assemble something. Maybe your kid’s bicycle, or a piece of furniture, or maybe even a car. Did it come with instructions? Did you read the instructions? All the instructions?
Web standards are the instructions we use to assemble websites. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was established in 1994 to establish standards for emerging web technologies. Those standards are written for two groups of people: the web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.) makers and the website makers (That’s us!).
Unlike a Schwinn, web browsers are pretty forgiving if you don’t follow the instructions. By forgiving I mean that if your web page code is incorrect, they make an educated guess as to what you really meant to do. That being the case, it’s easy to see why a lot of designers and developers have ignored the standards over the years and just did what worked. And while that’s perfectly fine for a personal web page, a business site should take advantage of the benefits provided by web standards.
Lower Costs
The primary cost savings we see with web standards is in maintenance. It is far easier and faster to update a standards-based website. The code is simpler and better organized. If we need to change the color of headlines it’s a single change in the code, rather than the multiple changes it often takes without the use of standards.
Better SEO
Search engines are trusting creatures. They have to be. Everything they need to know to do their jobs, they get from us. So if we tell them something is important, they believe us—until they see evidence we’re trying to con them. But if we don’t try to con them, if we’re nice to them and tell them what matters on our web pages, they will be nice to us and tell the world about us.
Web standards are an important part of this. The standards are designed to give meaning to the text and images on your website. Remember, the web was original built for sharing scientific documents. Because of this, the code is designed to create a hierarchical structure. By using this structure, we can tell search engines what our websites are about.
Easy Accessibility
Web standards are essential to making websites accessible to those with disabilities. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) require that websites use valid code. In our experience, accessibility is the “free prize” that comes with web standards. Yes, you do have to do more than simply write valid code, but once your code is valid, everything else you need to do is fairly easy.
Also, keep in mind that accessibility doesn’t just benefit those with disabilities. A website built according to the standards is more accessible to a greater number of devices as well. The market for cell phones and other hand-held devices that access the Internet is growing, and a standards-based site is going to be easier to adapt for those customers.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of web standards, I recommend the Business Case for Web Standards wiki created by Chris Heilmann. It’s a place for web professionals to collaborate on arguments and case studies for web standards. And if you want more information about building or redesigning a site with web standards, feel free to contact us.
