WebAdvice aims to educate web users in the benefits of standards based sites. Below is a list of some of the key advantages of complying with web standards.

• Websites are more accessible to people with disabilities as web content can be understood better by programs such as Braille converters.
• Other devices such as PDA's and screen readers are able to understand and read the code.
• Websites can also be read by mobile phone browsers, which in a society where 76% of phones can access the web can prove very useful for customer satisfaction.
• The overall design of websites can be altered without needing to alter every page. This means that future fresh redesigns can be implemented much more cheaply, making seasonal redesigns very cost effective.
• The pages are coded in a manner that allows printers only to print the important aspects of any page without wasting unnecessary ink and paper.
• The use of tags and rigid organization of the code behind the site allows for excellent natural search engine optimisation.
• Despite developments in web technologies, older browsers are still supported by the sites.
• Standards based websites more efficiently use bandwidth so that your customers receive better download times and larger quantities of information can be handled in a more effective manner.
• They are easier to maintain by both the original developers. More importantly it will be easier for another team to maintained the website in the future.

The technical aspects of web standards

There are many technical phrases that help explain how web standards are applied. Do not worry if you cannot understand all of these, they are to help educate you, but are not really necessary in understanding the benefits, Standards based websites are configured in a more efficient manner. They allow the separation of content (HTML / XHTML), style (CSS) and behaviour (DOM Scripting).

HTML - HyperText Markup Language

HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document - by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on - and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects.

XHTML - Extensible HyperText Markup Language

The Extensible HyperText Markup Language, or XHTML, is a markup language that has the same depth of expression as HTML, but also conforms to XML syntax.

Whereas HTML is an application of SGML, a very flexible markup language, XHTML is an application of XML, a more restrictive subset of SGML. Because they need to be well formed, true XHTML documents allow for automated processing to be performed using standard XML tools.

XML - Extensible Markup Language

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language. It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own tags. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet.

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets

CSS is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any kind of XML document, including SVG and XUL.

DOM - Document Object Model

DOM is an API (Application Programming Interface) platform, or an independent standard object model, for interacting with web pages. More detailed scripting becomes available such as JavaScript, that allows for a far more interactive browsing experience and for more dynamic applications.

To Conclude

The business benefits of using web standards are so vast that any question over the necessity of them becomes completely illegitimate. It does mean that the website has to be hand coded, rather than generated, but any professional web developer of a good standard should do this as a mater of course.

The fact is that web standards are essential for modern businesses. The advantages have already been clearly defined, and the initial added development time is well worth the benefits. It is easy to forget that, besides from people with disabilities, there are an increasing number of 'silver surfers' who also require special programs to access the web more easily, made available by web standards. Between these two groups, a gross spending of £120 billion is available for those businesses that take the appropriate paths for catering for their needs. More information on web users can be found on the National Statistics Office.