What are web standards?

This is a quick guide designed to assist our clients in understanding the importance of developing websites which are standard compliant. It also outlines some of the hurdles involved.

"This site optimized for..."

Web standards emerged in the late 1990's in an effort to combat the differences in web pages are rendered or displayed between web browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc...) and platforms (Mac, PC, UNIX, etc...). Until the introduction of web standards each browser had begun to develop proprietary markup code. This caused confusion between audiences and developers alike.

Designing with web standards does present some drawbacks. Because some of the current Internet population still uses non-compliant browsers (namely the 2-3% still using Netscape 4.x), there is the possibility of the site not looking identical on every machine. This is a long-standing hurdle in web development. While a standard-compliant site may not look identical on these older browsers, it will still be useable.

Phuture Design recommends that sites be designed in accordance with current Web Standards. The addition of an "About This Site" area can explain to users the benefits of standard compliance and provide information on upgrading browsers.

More can be learned about Web Standards by visiting these sites:

World Wide Web Consortium

http://www.w3c.org

Web Standards Project

http://www.webstandards.org