Hyprechromatics

Designing compliant websites

Web standards is basically the use of correct web coding standards as laid out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is the intension of W3C that web browsers must now understand the (X)HTML standards. Web designers can code to a standard and know that the code will be visible irrespective of which browser is being using.

Many Governments around the world, including the Australian Government has legislated that websites must be standards compliant in order to be accessed by all web users.

Creating a Standards compliant website takes considerably more time to develop than a site that does not so you may ask, “What are the business benefits of getting standards based re-designs?”

With the boom in 'what you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG) site creation tools like Dreamweaver it is now relatively straightforward for a person to create websites with little  web development knowledge. Although the site may look great, the construction can leave a lot to be desired. Although not always visually apparent, poor page coding can result in your business losing money making updates & changes more time consuming, making your site inaccessible to a large audience and make your site difficult to navigate.

A quality web standards based web site separates the look of your web pages from the written content of your site. This provides the following advantages:

Pros:

  • People with disabilities can view web sites using special browsers specially adapted to their needs.
  • Your Website will be easier to manage, maintain and re-design
  • Your customers will be able to control how they want to use your Website
  • Your Website will be compatible with new browsing technologies
  • Your Website will be compatible with all different technologies
  • Your Website will be able to be accessed by more people
  • Your Website will not put you at risk of incurring legal fees
  • Your Website will be faster to download and cheaper to host
  • Your Website will appear higher in search engines
  • Your Website will get great publicity

Cons:

  • Hard to get consistant results on different web browsers usually increasing browser testing time.
  • Initially takes longer to set up a web site.