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Why Web Standards?

Hadsel Design LLC follows web standards when developing web pages to provide increased accessibility to a growing list of end-user devices.

What are Web Standards?

There are many technologies that work together to bring content to the Web, and several standards and specifications that must be followed to accomplish this amazing feat. However, the term "web standards" is commonly used when referring to a group of best practices, which web designers and developers follow to ensure that their web sites may be accessed by as many people and devices as possible.

While most people view the Web with a browser that displays images and text, there are many non-traditional ways of accessing the information provided there. For example, sight-impaired individuals may use text-to-speech readers that read text aloud. Mobile phones, PDAs, and other devices with limited screen space are becoming a more mainstream way to access Web content.

Separating structure from presentation

A standards-based web page is developed using a markup language, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), together with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to separate the page’s information structure from its presentation. (X)HTML describes the structure by designating certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, forms, links, etc. CSS style sheets handle the presentation by applying different styles, such as color, size, position, background images, etc., to the information’s (X)HTML elements.

There are many benefits to separating a web page’s content from its presentation. Generally a standards-compliant web page will begin with the content structure. Building a document with a sound structure gives the information meaning regardless of where and how the text is arranged on the styled page. This allows machines to make intelligible content available to people and other machines, whether or not they are viewing it over a monitor screen.

After the page structure is set up, a designer can apply styles to the marked up text using Cascading Style Sheets. CSS gives a knowledgeable designer a tremendous amount of control over the page’s screen appearance. If designed correctly, the page will also degrade well in older browsers that do not "understand" standards-based page layouts.

CSS used in combination with a sound document structure adds flexibility. Separate style sheets can be used to target a variety of devices, such as printers. Style sheets can be switched out to change the entire look-and-feel of the content, either during a web site redesign, or for individuals who need special text sizes, background colors, etc. Some low vision users override the designer’s style sheets with their own to create a high contrast version of the site, for example, using large yellow text on a black background.

Most modern browsers allow individual users to turn off style sheets altogether. This option is useful to users who need, or prefer, to view plain, non-styled content, such as individuals with low vision who view Web content through screen magnifiers.

Accessibility: Why Should You Care

Frankly, there is more to accessibility than separating content from presentation; however developing a proper (X)HTML document structure is a very good start. "Basically every accessible principle benefits more than just one group of users with disabilities" (http://www.webaim.org). For example, properly used CSS provides anyone using a traditional browser with the ability to enlarge the text size on the page.

Other Benefits

Web pages built with standards can be tested (validated) using W3C validator services for both (X)HTML markup and CSS. Once the designer corrects any errors discovered, the resulting valid XHTML and CSS pages load more quickly and more reliably, because the browser does not have to try to interpret faulty code. And these same pages will continue to display properly as future browsers are developed.

W3C web standards also help search engine robots index web content more accurately. And, because the information is structured, it "can be easily converted to other formats" (http://www.webstandards.org/learn/).

Implementing common CSS on all of the web site’s pages ensures that the style remains consistent throughout the site and is important to providing a professional appearance. Users learn what to expect and look for in regard to heading and navigation styles as they move through the site.

Web standards also work well when placing dynamic information, such as from a database, into a web page. The data is placed into an (X)HTML element and styles are already waiting in the CSS to handle the final output.

"Why doesn't everyone use standards?"

The design community, initially turned off by browser incompatibilities, went with WYSIWYG solutions that carved designs up and placed them into table cells at the expense of accessibility. As a result, designers did not take the time to learn how to produce valid web documents that separate content from design.

Things are looking up for designers, but many are still behind the curve. "In 2002, two leading visual editors vastly improved their support for web standards and accessibility […]. But to make use of these improvements, professionals must learn the basics and benefits of designing and building with web standards" (http://www.webstandards.org/about/mission/).

Conclusion

Through its practice of using W3C web standards, Hadsel Design LLC produces stable pages that can be viewed in a larger variety of end-user devices, and can be readily indexed by search engine robots. These websites are easily developed and maintained, can provide increased user control, and pair well with dynamically written content. Websites built with web standards will continue to work as future generations of browsers and end-user devices explore the Web.

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