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Informative article on why design to W3C Web Standards and Guidelines is both important and cost effective.
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Designing Websites to W3C Standards
W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium is a body formed from over 400 member companies with the intention of standardising and furthering the development of the World Wide Web, or the Internet as it is more conveniently referred to. These standards, which it calls `recommendations`, are the guidelines by which every web designer of repute will construct and maintain a website, and they cover a huge range of areas. The recommendations are also always being added to as proposals are considered and the language of the internet evolves. As a result the way to produce a website which is successful and enduring is to adhere to the W3C recommendations and standards. The question is how can this be done?
The WC3 recommendations standardised the scripting practices across all browser platforms so that whether you were using Internet Explorer, FireFox or Opera you would see basically the same website. The three main areas of necessary conformity are HTML, XHTML and CSS and need to be looked at in detail.
HTML plus XML equals XHTML
These days HTML is somewhat of an aging language that has arguably been superseded by far better solutions, though it is still the backbone of many web pages. Under the W3C guidelines it is predominantly used for defining the page layout, though the combination language of XHTML which uses both HTML and XML is much neater and requires that coding is done to a base level that gives closure to important areas of a site`s scripting. By creating a site which has conforming document types using XML or HTML scripting ensures that you will be making something that is accessible to the lowest common denominator because of the standardisations recommended by the W3C. Though these may be classed modestly as recommendations, it`s important to note that if you don`t conform you`ll be vastly decreasing your potential user base as most browsers take W3C standards very seriously.
CSS
CSS is the script which determines the style of a single web page or a whole website. It is best if managed centrally rather than assigned individually to a specific page. This will firstly provide your site with a look and feel which is unified which is not only more professional but simpler for the average visitor to comprehend and use. Secondly and most importantly from an expenditure point of view if you want to make any changes to the style of the site then you only need to change a single line of code rather than hundreds or thousands of individual ones.
Before broadband in the UK was as widespread as it is today and the internet lacked cohesion, coding web sites for different browsers was costly and difficult. Now with the W3C standards it is far easier and cheaper to get a good looking website out there and make it available to the largest possible audience because of the standardisation.
W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium is a body formed from over 400 member companies with the intention of standardising and furthering the development of the World Wide Web, or the Internet as it is more conveniently referred to. These standards, which it calls `recommendations`, are the guidelines by which every web designer of repute will construct and maintain a website, and they cover a huge range of areas. The recommendations are also always being added to as proposals are considered and the language of the internet evolves. As a result the way to produce a website which is successful and enduring is to adhere to the W3C recommendations and standards. The question is how can this be done?
The WC3 recommendations standardised the scripting practices across all browser platforms so that whether you were using Internet Explorer, FireFox or Opera you would see basically the same website. The three main areas of necessary conformity are HTML, XHTML and CSS and need to be looked at in detail.
HTML plus XML equals XHTML
These days HTML is somewhat of an aging language that has arguably been superseded by far better solutions, though it is still the backbone of many web pages. Under the W3C guidelines it is predominantly used for defining the page layout, though the combination language of XHTML which uses both HTML and XML is much neater and requires that coding is done to a base level that gives closure to important areas of a site`s scripting. By creating a site which has conforming document types using XML or HTML scripting ensures that you will be making something that is accessible to the lowest common denominator because of the standardisations recommended by the W3C. Though these may be classed modestly as recommendations, it`s important to note that if you don`t conform you`ll be vastly decreasing your potential user base as most browsers take W3C standards very seriously.
CSS
CSS is the script which determines the style of a single web page or a whole website. It is best if managed centrally rather than assigned individually to a specific page. This will firstly provide your site with a look and feel which is unified which is not only more professional but simpler for the average visitor to comprehend and use. Secondly and most importantly from an expenditure point of view if you want to make any changes to the style of the site then you only need to change a single line of code rather than hundreds or thousands of individual ones.
Before broadband in the UK was as widespread as it is today and the internet lacked cohesion, coding web sites for different browsers was costly and difficult. Now with the W3C standards it is far easier and cheaper to get a good looking website out there and make it available to the largest possible audience because of the standardisation.