Web Standards
What does Web Standards mean and how does it affect and benefit you?
Before the web became standardized web designers have had a hard time to make your web page look and act the same in every browser that was out there. This task alone was difficult to accomplish without the proper knowledge and all the time it took to work.
The code that structured many sites before and currently today looked like HTML soup with random nested tables and font tags roaming wild within the HTML file.
However, things are changing... there is now a better way to build your web site.
Enter web standards
Web standards are about separating content from design. This means that your content is held in the HTML file and your design is defined by a special CSS file. This allows the content to be described semantically in the mark-up, rather than being cluttered up with design elements.
This new standard way of designing Web Pages is great for seo (search engine optimization). It is great for seo in the way that a search engine does not have to read all of the design code before it gets to your content. That is good so you can move up in the search engine.
So this:
<font color="#000000" size="24" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> This is a heading! </font>
Becomes this:
<h3> This is a heading! </h3>
See how much easier it is to read that.
Why should you care?
It is important that your site is being built using web standards because it offers you:
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Faster loading speeds - By eliminating all the unessisary code from the HTML file you produce cleaner code and smaller files. This means that your site loads faster than a older site that is riddled with font tags.
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Backwards compatibility - Web standards ensures that your site will be useable on any browser no matter how old.
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More flexibility - Because design is controlled by a small set of files, it is possible to quickly and easily change the look of your site without a complete rebuild.
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Improved search engine placement (SEO) - Search engines care only about content, not the design. By separating the design from content, it makes it easier for the search engines to understand your site.
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Delivery to multiple devices - By separating content from design you can deliver your content to a mobile phone or a touch screen kiosk just by changing the design.
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Ease of accessibility - Sites built with web standards find it easier to navigate a site with ease. Which includes faster loading times, smaller files, and clean code.