Standards not Browsers

| August 31, 2004, 12:14 pm

For many years it has been necessary to create multiple versions of a website to allow all browser users to access it effectively, over the past few years this situation has changed, due to the sterling work of the World wide web Consortium.

In the past it was necessary to code to the quirks of browsers that used divergent rendering engines, requiring an encyclopedic knowledge of html implementations, browser detection scripts and 'This site requires Microsoft blah de blah notices'.

The use of Web Standards has a number of key benefits that go beyond the immediate efficiencies of only having to build one website.

Semantic Meaning.

By structuring the document with the meaning of the content in mind, the power of the information is increased, screen readers and non visual browsing devices can use the pages.

Separating design from content.

With design information stored in a separate CSS file, design changes are applied to multiple pages simultaneously, making design changes far easier.

Future proof.

Web standards are used by device manufacturers to build tomorrows browsers and browsing devices, so using Web Standards ensures forwards compatibility.

Graceful degradation.

Thoughtful application of Web Standards ensures that people still using older less compliant browsers still get a usable website.

So using these standards, increases the accessibility of a website, offers development efficiencies, make design changes quicker and easier, ensures future compatibility.

As they say, one day all websites will be built this way.

Further Reading:
W3C The Worldwide Web Consortium
The Web Standards Project
Designing with web standards
Web Standards Awards