Website Standards

Making web pages can be a very simple process. Anyone with most word processors can save a text document as a web page, or use one of the many available amateur site builders.

So why is professional Web Development still a healthy business? The answer comprises of the following factors: Standards, Accessibility and Maintainability

Standards

Standards in coding of any form, from Customer Relationship Management Systems to Websites, are vital. Only professional developers are experienced and qualified to code websites that conform to W3C guidelines. To explain what this means to the casual user, here are some major ramifications.

Say your web page is put together by sloppy coding methodologies or easy site building programs, it's entire layout will most definitely be broken by using different browser variations and different platforms (i.e. mobile phones, PDAs etc). What's worse is that in some cases, your page will not be viewable at all. Bad coding standards behind your web page will frustrate search engine bots, which will decrease the likelihood of your page being found by your customers.

Accessibility

As accessibility technology becomes more widespread and sophisticated, the need for professional standards in web development becomes paramount. After all, you will instantly deny a certain chunk of your customers the chance to view your website if your website is not fully accessible.

It's not just people viewing the web with disabilities that miss out either, search engines rely on elements of accessibility on your website too, otherwise it doesn't get looked at!

If your website provides a public service, it is vital that your site is accessible. British government legislation requires that all public websites be accessible. Old style websites that use tables to format entire sites, embed style in content, do not provide alternative text for images etc. in effect break the law!