Why Use Web Standards?
There are two main ways to construct a (X)HTML website. There is the traditional table method and the newer web standards method. Bradley & Company constructs all it's sites using the superior web standards methodology. This is the same methodology referred to in a recent Business Week article.
What are Web Standards?
Web standards sites are sites built following the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendations for website construction. Web Standards sites are constructed using XHTML and CSS.
The guiding principle behind standards-based construction is that there should be a separation between the page content and how it is displayed. Page content... the text, links, and images are contained in a XHTML file. How and where the text, images, and links are displayed are controlled by a separate CSS file. While for each web page there is a separate XHTML file, there is typically is one global CSS file that is referenced by every page. The beauty of this is that site-wide changes in the way the site looks can be made just by modifying the CSS file. Traditional table based websites are not nearly so flexible since the look and feel are intertwined with the content of the site. Simple site-wide changes to the way a traditional table based displays content frequently requires that every page needs to be updated, a time consuming and expensive process.
But Wait There's More...
In addition to being quicker and cheaper to modify and maintain, web standards based sites offer the following advantages:
- Web standards sites are lighter in terms of page size in bytes than table based sites. This is due to the style coding being removed from the the individual web pages. The benefit to the site owner is that the pages load faster and reduce bandwidth costs on web hosting.
- Standards based sites naturally promote a consistent look and feel to an entire site due to the use of a global stylesheet.
- Web standards sites are more flexible since unique style sheets can be set up for different devices or needs. Need a high contrast version of the site for visitors who are visually impaired; want to allow visitors to print the site pages in a print friendly format without creating separate printer friendly page for every page of the site? A print only style sheet makes this possible. How about a slimmed down version of the site that displays on a device such as a phone... once again it's style sheets to the rescue with a special phone optimized version of the site.
- Web standards sites are more accessible to visually impaired visitors due to their better support of screen readers.
- Web standards sites are more likely to rank higher in search engine listings since it is easier for the search engine spiders to read and categorize the page content.
- Web standards sites tend to display more consistently across different web browsers and browser versions. Due to the way browsers work, they interpret the (X)HTML code and CSS information. Because of this sites will likely have minor differences when displayed in different browsers. In the past traditionally constructed sites often required separate pages for different browsers or “this page best view with disclaimers”. The obvious problems with these approaches was that they either required the extra cost of developing a separate web page for a specific browser or that they potentially required the visitor install a new version or different browser to simply view a page!
Why Aren't All Sites Built Using Web Standards?
Typically there are three reasons.
- The site was constructed before web standards were popular and well understood. Web standards are the most modern way to construct web sites. There was a time when the traditional table based methodology was the only method available.
- A content management system not supporting web standards can be a hindrance to progressing to web standards.
- Finally, learning web standards requires designers and developers used to building sites the old fashioned table based way to completely relearn the way they build web sites. As with any change in the way one works there is a learning curve that requires time and effort to overcome. That said, many web designers and developers have taken the plunge and are reaping the benefits for their clients.
It's the Way We Build 'em!
With all the benefits to using web standards, at Bradley & Company, it's the only way we build em! We pride ourselves on staying current with the web development technologies offering our clients the best possible website and website experience for their customers, while saving money on future maintenance and hosting bandwidth costs.
