Importance of Adhering to the Web Standards While Designing a Website

With a dime a dozen DIY ‘website making’ advertisements flashed across the internet, it is increasingly being believed that website building is child’s play.

However only well-versed, professional web designers can identify what goes into it. In fact, they also understand the importance of keeping track of new and emerging techniques during designing.

While building a website may not exactly be a rocket science, there are a number of key factors that do help in setting aside the good ones from the bad ones. One of the main aspects that go into making an acceptable website is to stick to the web standards.

Call it a trick of the trade, an essential or a secret formula, the bottom line is  that abiding by the rules of the web not only help in making a website that is extremely user friendly but also help in maximum search engine optimisation.

What Exactly Do Web Standards Entail?

The World Wide Web Consortium basically lays down certain standards and specifications, which if followed by developers can help greatly in increasing compatibility, accessibility and maintainability of the website, which is beneficial particularly for its users. A few rules specified by the W3C are as follows:

1. Validated Code: W3C expects that you develop websites in validated code. These could be HTML,CSS or any other validated code. While some browsers may let you get away with invalid code, some others may not.

2. Accessibility: Information on the internet must be accessible by all users, regardless of incapacities.

3. Usability: It is expected that the website should be user friendly. It must be free of errors, efficient, effective and fairly easy to use. Whatever be the user’s goals, he should be able to meet them easily. This requires easy navigation, clear text and images and complete accessibility.

4. Compatibility: A website should be such that it is not only compatible with all web browsers but also all types of internet devices. For example the website on the computer should offer the same information as the website on a mobile phone.

Why Abiding by Web Standards is Important:

If you do not abide by the web standards maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium, there is a good chance that users will face one or more of the following problems while using your website:

• Issues with internal navigation
• Unaligned content
• Incongruous pictures and descriptions
• Disparity in text
• Slower downloads
• Issues of Compatibility with various browsers
• Limited accessibility

Hence to avoid these problems and make the website user friendly, following the web standards is highly recommended.

Moreover sticking to the format as opposed to developing your own codes is also beneficial to the developers and designers. Not only does it make development and maintenance easy, it also future proofs the website making it compatible with ‘to be launched’ browsers that would otherwise be an issue considering the future browsers may not understand the independent code developed by the designers. As web browsers evolve and new internet devices are launched, compatibility is most likely to become an issue and in such cases validated codes developed as per the standards will help the website function properly and open with most browsers. Hence ‘long term viability’ remains an important advantage of conforming to the standards.

Another great advantage of abiding by web standards is that it automatically lowers the cost of production. By making the site more accessible and user friendly, the site will be used by more people and through more types of internet devices.

Conforming to standards in general irrespective of field and industry, brings a certain decorum and order into the system. By adhering to the standards laid down by the W3C too, developers can bring in a standard, easy to use and orderly flow into the whole web browsing experience. The rules have been in place since 1994 and in these 19 odd years, they have only made the World Wide Web a better and more organised space that users cannot survive without.