The Business Case for Web Standards
Audience: Small Business Owners
Purpose: To explain why hiring a developer that adheres to standards is important to you.
Author: Jonathan Bailey — © Bailey & Hall 2006 Article Date: 2006-09-14
Last Updated: 2007-03-07
Introduction | What HTML Standards Mean to You
Validation | What Not to Expect | When to Avoid Standards | Summary
Introduction
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the language that your browser uses to display a web page. It evolved from SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) — a tool for the print industry — and is related to XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Over the years both the language (we're on version 4.x now) and its usage have evolved tremendously.
In its early days it was fairly rudimentary which lead the browsers such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator to bend it and twist it to make it more useful. The result was a terrible mess with pages displaying in radically different ways in different browsers. Web development was a nightmare. Which is why we rediscovered standards.
Why Should You Care About Standards
If you redo the electrical system in your house you generally want a contractor that is going to do things the way everyone else does them. This is a good idea not just so that you don't burn your house down but so that when the next electrician comes along they aren't going to scratch their head and say "I have no idea what's going on here. I recommend we rip the whole thing out and start over." That's two good reasons the electrical industry is so highly regulated (But then regulations aren't always followed. My gas furnace guy once got zapped by a furnace that was wired around the main circuit box..)
HTML standards are a little different. A poorly coded page isn't likely to burn down the house.
Your website should meet current standards so that it has the best possible chance of displaying correctly in:
- both current and future web browsers.
- browsers on other devices such as cell phones and PDA's
- assistive browsers for the visually impaired
- and finally search engine spiders
Validation
Validation consists of checking your code to verify that it matches the specification of the particular version of HTML that you are using. It can be a useful debugging tool for developers. A useful tool for clients when evaluating web developers and if your pages pass the test you get to put this neat little button
What Not to Expect
A page that passes validation has an excellent chance of being compatible with a very large number of browsers, but it isn't guaranteed. There are still browser bugs which means it is still necessary to define who your primary market is and ensure that your website appears how you want in the browsers they are likely to use. There is no substitute for testing.
When to Avoid Standards
There are cases where adherence to standards don't make sense. Part of the HTML standard is defining the version of HTML you are using. For example this page has been validated as "XHTML 1.0 Strict" which is the most "demanding" of the various standards. There is actually a hidden tag at the top of this page that tells your browser that I want the page to be processed in this way.
This can be a bad thing if you build a site for a customer that is going to maintain it themselves and they do not have the expertise to adhere to the standard. If they write non-XHTML1.0 Strict html it might display in an odd way or not at all. It might even break the page completely.
In these cases it is better to relax the standard.
Summary
Adherence to HTML standards is a good idea. It gives your pages the best possible chance of being accessible to browsers, including those yet to be developed.
There are tools on the web to help you verify a website's (or web developer's) compliance. All things being equal go with a contractor that supports the standards.
There are times when standards can interfere with a project's requirements (such as maintenance by in-house personnel) and in those cases compliance should be relaxed where necessary.
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