:: What are Web standards and why are they important

The World Wide Web which was set up about 21 years ago to provide a common space where users could freely share information either for work, to socialize or for educational purposes has been thoroughly integrated into our daily lives and grown into the powerful ubiquitous tool that it is because it was built on egalitarian principles. It was created to work no matter what hardware, software, network connection or language people use and handle information of all types and qualities. Technical standards that are open and royalty-free allow people to create applications without anyone's permission or having to pay. The W3C is the organization that guides the Web to realize its full potential by providing guidelines, specifications and tools to maintain and improve these technical standards which are the very core of the success of the Web.

:: W3C standards

The W3C standards are the rules and guidelines developers should follow to ensure that all browsers will display a Web site properly and its contents available to everyone. In brief these can be summed into the following requirements. - A website should be written in valid mark-up code. - It should use valid style sheets. - HTTP should be used properly. - It should use SVG and PNG for graphics. - Its contents should be accessible. - Standard scripting languages should be used.

:: Accessible Websites

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, interact and contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits older people with changing abilities due to ageing. Web Accessibility has already become a legal issue in many countries. When shopping for a website make sure it complies with the accessibility standards.

:: Websites coded in - Valid Xhtml

Our websites are written in valid Xhtml. We use Xhtml because it is readable by the greatest number of browsers, devices and assistive technologies like screen readers. The strict guidelines set results in cleaner code. All extraneous or ambiguous elements are eliminated, so pages are smaller, load faster, and render correctly in all browsers. When shopping for a website ask about the markup language the site is written in. Read more about Xhtml in our Expertise pages.

:: Consistency - Valid CSS

Through the use of CSS (cascading stylesheets) the same style elements can be applied to every page of a site. From the first page onwards, visitors will be presented with a consistent design scheme, building their comfort level and effectively promoting your brand or service. The style sheets of your website can be changed quite easily which means flexibility in the long run.

:: Search Engine Friendly Code

By using the Xhtml mark up language we produce web pages that search engine spiders find easy to understand. There are no presentational elements or bloated code to confuse the spiders, so they will crawl everything that matters and rank your website accordingly. Google is nowadays, without any doubt, the biggest search engine on the Internet, your web site should be 'Google friendly' designed if you want it to get anywhere.

:: Markup Validation

Just as texts in a natural language can include spelling or grammar errors, documents using mark up languages such as Xhtml, may not be following the rules. The process of verifying whether a document actually follows the rules for the language(s) it uses is called validation, and the tool used for that is a validator. A document that passes this process with success is called valid.

:: Look for Valid Websites

With these concepts in mind, we can define 'markup validation' as the process of checking a Web document against the grammar it claims to be using. The W3C puts a validator at your disposition so you can check if a document is valid. Click at the white link at the bottom of this website and you will see it is valid. Check other sites and you will be amazed how many sites are NOT valid.

:: Progressive Enhancement

Progressive enhancement is a strategy for web design that emphasizes accessibility, semantic HTML markup, and external stylesheet and scripting technologies. Progressive enhancement uses web technologies in a layered fashion that allows everyone to access the basic content and functionality of a web page, using any browser or Internet connection, while also providing those with better bandwidth, more advanced browser software or more experience an enhanced version of the page.