Web Standards Overview

"Web standards are intended to be a common base.... a foundation for the World Wide Web so that browsers and other software understand the same basic vocabulary."
Eric Myer, Netscape Communications

Web Standards are about accepting the web as a broad communication tool that can be accessed by a wide variety of users and devices.

Common characteristics include: semantically correct mark-up, valid code, accessible code (for humans and devices) and cascading style sheets (CSS) to separate content from presentation.

What are Web Standards About?

 

• To deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number of web users
• To ensure the long-term viability of any web document
• To simplify code and lower the cost of production
• To deliver sites that are accessible to more people and more types of Internet devices
• To continue to function correctly as browsers evolve, and as new devices come to market

The Benefits of Web Standards Compliancy

• Improved page load times, poor code, nested tables and outdated mark-up can triple the bandwidth required for even the simplest websites
  
• Content is accessible to a wider range of devices (screen readers, browsers, text based browsers, hand helds, search robots, printers, fridges etc)
  
• Better search engine ranking
  
  
• Content can easily be restyled without changing code
  
• Provides print friendly versions for all pages
  
  
• Provides a competitive edge as more of the world moves to using Web Standards
  
  
• Content is accessible to a wider range of users (normal users, blind users, vision impaired users, dyslexic users, motor skilled impaired users etc)