PediaWeb

The Importance of Web Standards, and Why You Should Care

September 22nd, 2009 by Jeff McKeand

At PediaWeb, we place great importance on the idea of web standards. At first, the idea may seem irrelevant to pediatric dentists, orthodontists, or pediatricians, but if you read on, you’ll see that choosing a company like ours to build your website can save you huge headaches (and money) down the line.

What Are Web Standards And Why Do They Matter?

Web standards are a series of guidelines created by the W3C – the governing body of the Web. They guide the way that we create websites and help ensure that the Web continues to be an open communication platform to which all have equal access.

In general, standards exist to make things simpler and easier. Isn’t it convenient that most electrical devices in your country use the same electricity supply, and there is a common language for business and daily interactions?

Now imagine how much more difficult life would be if these facts were not true.

Let us now apply this to the Web. Web standards are technologies that are free to use, and work the same, regardless of device or platform. Provided your website is built using web standards and best practices, it will be usable by anyone, regardless of their location, the device they are surfing the Web with, and any disabilities they may have.

Standards for HTML, CSS, JavaScript and the other languages that make up the fabric of the Web are critical for its continued growth and success.

Okay, But Are Web Standards Relevant to My Practice?

Web standards have many practical applications in the real world. Businesses, governments, and major organizations recognize the benefits of web standards, and are acting accordingly. Web standards are important to everyone, regardless of discipline. Here are a few reasons why:

• Web standards make your website more findable to search engines such as Google, and therefore can generate more traffic to your website.

• Web standards encourage terse, efficient code that is easier to maintain. Writing code to the W3C’s standard helps ensure your websites will work across all major web browsers.

• Web standards will help you achieve consistency in your design across browsers, and opens up a host of design possibilities. At the same time if you want to modify the type, color, or other formatting across an entire website, you can do so by making changes to a single code file.

• Companies have been sued for millions of dollars because their websites are inaccessible to disabled users. Building with web standards removes the risk of expensive, reputation damaging litigation.

• Because web standards foster more efficient coding practices, pages often require less code which means users will experience faster page load times. Web standards keep content open and accessible to all users on the Web, regardless of disability or browsing platform.

In essence, following web standards is critical for the evolution and well being of the Web as an open communication medium for all users.

Before you build your next website, consider the implications of choosing a company that does or does not follow these standards.