Introduction

A telescope representing Web Standards supported by a tripod representing the three fondations of good web designIf there is a fire in your business it is nice to be assured that the hose in truck A can be used by truck B. If the fire gets really big we want to know that the hose from another fire department will work with the original department. We have more mundane examples in our everyday life as well. We know that the gallon of gas we buy in California is the same amount as a gallon of gas bought in New York, a 9/16 bolt bought in one store will fit into a 9/16 nut bought somewhere else. Like in the rest of life we would like to have the web site we designed for Microsoft Internet Explorer on a Windows platform work for someone using Mozilla Fire Fox on a Linux platform. Such standards do exist, but to date they have been largely ignored by web designers and developers.

I have heard the claim that 63% of the web development community are aware and use web standards. If the preceding statement is true why do 90% of the web sites out there fail to meet these standards? If you are a web site owner this is costing you money.

Web Standards and your business

Using web standards has a direct effect on your bottom line. It increases your ability to adapt to change, reduces maintenance costs, increases your visibility to search engines and decreases download times. This is done by separating content, presentation and behavior so you can change one part without affecting the other parts.

Paul Boag of Headscape does a very good presentation on the business model for web standards in a podcast aimed at those who may be technically challenged; even if you are knowledgeable this is worth listening to. You can follow this link (The business benefits of web standards) to listen to Paul's presentation.

Who is setting Web Standards

If you listened to Paul Boag's presentation then you already know about the W3C and the ECMA, but you might still want to read on to learn a little more. For the rest, let us start by getting rid of the alphabet soup. W3C is short for the World Wide Web Consortium here is how they define themselves

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C's mission is: To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web

This Organization has divided itself into many different working groups that define the various languages and technologies that make up the web these include things like the Web Applications Group, the Mobile Web initiative and many others. Two of the most important working groups are the XHTML, and CSS working groups. These languages that define the structure and style of the web sites you see. For those who interested in finding out more on the work of the W3C go to www.w3.org

The ECMA is the abbreviation for the European Computer Manufactures Association. This is the organization that maintains the Document Object Model (DOM) scripting language. DOM script is more commonly called JavaScript. This language is commonly used to define behaviors of web sites. This organization has control of several other standards as well such as C#, the new language developed by Microsoft and Eiffel, an object oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer. Their site, at www.ecma-international.org, contains information on their activities and a list of the standards that they maintain.

As in other industries it is often true that recommendations from professional organization get codified into law. As an example the recommendations of the National Fire Protection Agency form the basis of the fire codes for most governing agencies in this country. This is beginning to happen on the web.

Arising Legal Issues

In recent years there has been an increasing movement to improve handicapped accessibility in building and transportation. In 1998 the US congress enacted an amendment to update the 1973 Rehabilitation Act section 508 to reflect changes in technologies that had come since the act was originally enacted. But this was aimed at the federal government and federal government contractors. Many states have also enacted similar supporting legislation within their jurisdiction for California this is Government Code 11135(d)(2). Private industry has relied on voluntary compliance with the Web Accessibility Initiate of the W3C.

The W3C recognized the problems that the handicapped, especially the blind, had in using the web, so they established the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to explore methods to make the web more accessible. As a result of their work a set of recommendations called the web content accessibility guidelines was adopted on May 5, 1999. Although these guidelines exist their use has been strictly voluntary to this point, this may be changing.

In March 2006 the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) filed suit against Target under the American with disabilities act. In September it was ruled that this lawsuit could go forward opening the door for others like it.

There are many problems in using Flash, AJAX and some of the other dynamic content technologies and keeping within the guide lines. This is not to say that it can't be done, but caution is called for if there is a desire to be compliant. The WAI and other portions of the W3C are working on these problems. An example is a working group established within the WAI called the Accessible Rich Internet Applications group(ARIA). Adobe, and before them Macromedia, has been attempting to make Flash more accessible with mixed results.

Barriers to adopting Web Standards

So there are business reasons and legal reasons for adopting standards why are most web sites still not compliant. The fact that a web site is broken is not necessarily obvious to the uneducated so they can not see why they have to change. For those with existing sites the conversion can be expensive.

Those who develop web sites are required to think about how they develop a site in new ways. There is a significant learning curve for those developing sites in traditional ways. Those using traditional methods see that their sites look the way they intend and they can still earn a living so why change. Ben Henick wrote a great article on lessons he learned as he was moving toward Web Standards in 12 Lessons for those Afraid of Web Standards on a list apart. This article is aimed at developers. Even though Mr. Henick's article does illustrate some of the barriers that developers face in learning these skills, and how to overcome them.

Browser companies are another reason for the slow progress. Adoption of web standard has been slow and uneven by the browser manufacturers. This has been improving with time but we still have to support older browsers. Even so, the news here is not all bad. There are well published techniques for overcoming these problems at sties such as position is everything. Microsoft has provided something called conditional comments that will allow you to choose the style sheet loaded based upon which version of their browser is being used or if it is not a Microsoft browser even another.

This inconsistency is especially frustrating for those just starting. What works in one browser may not work in another, even if it is different versions of the same browser. When learning a new language you expect it to work the same no matter the context in which you use it. This is not true when using CSS. Without a good text or someone to point them to the right web sites new developers get extremely frustrated

Russell Computer Consulting has already climbed these mountains We can provide conversion, training, or a new web site conforming to the current standards with an eye on the future.

For those who want more

Web sites

Books