standards compliance
Why it should matter to you
In the early days of the Internet, there was just HTML, a simple way of coding text and images so that web browsing software such as Netscape or Internet Explorer could present them to the viewer. HTML code is a bit like a set of stage directions in the typescript of play. HTML cajoles text, images and other web content into place and costumes it for presentation. But early graphical browser makers saw the potential to enhance presentation far beyond the basic universal rules of HTML (originally developed by Tim Berners-Lee) and new stage directions specific to a type of browser began to multiply. As this trend continued, it meant that unless you were using the right browser you might not see things as the creator of the page intended you to see them. Text might blink or borders look fine in one browser but not in another. Sometimes the differences are mere annoyances, but often they amount to real obstacles to effective and consistent design. (The page you are looking at right now appears one way in a more compliant browser such as Firefox, Safari, Opera or even Internet Explorer 7, and rather differently in IE 6 and earlier.)
Consequently, there were calls for a set of standards that all parties involved in the creation and presentation of web content could adhere to in the interest of curbing the coding mess and permit real progress through universally accepted advances in presentation techniques. After all, the drama in the play shouldn’t be about stage directions. Thus World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a non-profit standards advisory group came into being. They have since set standards not just for HTML but for even more enabling web languages such as XHTML and CSS, which are the basic design tools used today.
But nothing changed overnight. It has taken many years for competing browsers, especially Internet Explorer, to somewhat comply with these standards. Mozilla-based browsers (e.g., Firefox), Opera and, more recently, the Mac Safari browser have been far ahead in the struggle to achieve compliance. There has been some real progress with the introduction of IE7 though IE is still no leader in compliance.
You must be asking, Why should this business about compliance matter to me as someone who just wants to reach people with my message via the web?
Here are some reasons:
Web designers have to spend a great deal of time (in the end your precious time because you are paying for it) trying to tweak and distort code so that as many people as possible will see your web page as you want them to see it. Unless you can afford to lock out the growing number of people who are using something other than the most popular incarnation of Internet Explorer, you cannot dismiss this audience. The number has grown because the entrenched inadequacies of Internet Explorer have become evident to anyone who takes the web seriously. These inadequacies force designers to jump through hoops to accomplish things that are far simpler to do for a more standards-compliant browser such as Firefox.
Apart from the waste for all concerned consequent on Internet Explorer, the most popular browser, bringing up the rear on this front, there is the fact that the types of devices through which more and more people are accessing the Internet are proliferating rapidly. You should want your web page to deliver content to people no matter whether they are using a home desktop, laptop, personal digital assistant, or, more and more these days, a web-enabled cell phone. You want them to glean at least the important information from your site no matter whether their screen is 22 or more inches or only 2 inches across. You should want the visually impaired to be able to have their software text readers hear the content of your site, even hear what a picture is about without being able to see it. As the general population ages, you should care whether those whose eyesight is not what it used to be can easily increase the size of the text on your site to suit their needs or remove what may be pointless distractions to them. But, at the same time, as newer generations of young people, weaned on the web, mature you will also want to make sure they are not left disappointed by your site if it is too afraid to fully utilize the latest techniques to enhance presentation…
Standards compliance makes all this possible because it frees the designer to focus on designing for real human needs and not for the quirks of browsing software. I am only focusing here on the compliance effects that should be clear to you as the owner of a web site. There are many more technical reasons why compliance is important: these are just the easiest to explain and appreciate.
But I will mention just one more point that hints at the near future: the open source movement, of which the people behind the phenomenally successful Firefox are part, is gathering steam worldwide. The days of Microsoft being the only game in town are numbered. Open source Linux operating systems are maturing and there is a close connection between standards compliance and open source forces. Interoperability is the key value here. Linux, long a favorite operating system on web servers, is making serious inroads into many mobile device technologies. Your web-enabled cell phone may already be using Linux whether you realize it or not. If not, it very likely soon will be. Palm’s mobile phone operating system is moving in that direction. Apple’s operating system is a close cousin to Linux. Dell has just announced it will be shipping laptops with pre-installed Linux…
You should want your web site not to be Microsoft-centric or built around technologies that will be facing serious challenges.
Design.aporia designs your site with all this in mind. We test sites not just on the operating systems and browsers popular now but on those operating systems and browsers that are setting the standards of tomorrow. This helps assure the wide accessibility and durability of your site—and investment.
...more on standards compliance.
—Victor Muñoz
owner, aporia web design
