Many people have questions about what web standards are and why they are important. We are going to try and answer some of the questions you might have.

What are web standards?

Web Standards are a set of guidelines recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines tell web designer's the correct way to write the code (e.g. HTML, CSS) for a web site. The guidelines also tell internet browser makers how to display the code that designer's write.

Why aren't standards used by most designers?

In the past web standards were not handled very well by browsers. Web designer's reacted to this by inventing hacks and workarounds that enabled them to make a page look the way they wanted. (A great example is the use of tables to position elements on the page.)

Web designers would also use complicated scripts to detect what browser a visitor was using and send them a different web site depending on that browser.

Current browsers are at the level where they support web standards very well and there is no reason for the designer not to use them. But, people get stuck in their ways and do not like to change.

As a business, using old coding techniques negatively impacts your bottom line.

Why are web standards important?

First lets list the negative aspects of not using web standards.

• Extra junk code that increases file size. (Costs company money!)
• Separate versions of web site needed depending on the visitor's browser. (Costs company money!)
• Detection scripts need updating for every new browser version. (Costs company money!)
• Difficult to redesign without major undertaking. (Costs more company money!)

Now the benefits of using web standards.

• Streamlined Code. (Saves company money)
• Faster loading Pages. (Makes customers happy)
• One version of web site works in any browser. (Saves company money)
• No detection scripts. (Saves company money)
• Updating and redesigning is much easier and faster. (Saves company money)