Suzanne — Tue, 04 Dec 2001 05:48:47 +0000

http://www.macworld.com/2001/09/howto/webpublishing.html

and

http://www.zeldman.com/lectures/standards/

This is why standards are important, and how easy they are to implement.

It's not always possible, but it is most of the time. But if you work towards having valid code, you shoot a number of fish in a barrel (to mix metaphors) at the same time: accessibility, future compatibility, time spent designing.

Coupled with sensible use of technology like templates and includes, you can put together very complex sites far easier, maintain them easier and update them in the future with minimal effort.

Consistency and standards go hand in hand.

Suzanne

Busy — Tue, 04 Dec 2001 04:13:34 +0000

I used to make all my sites to W3C specs, then found out that the W3C specs are to advanced for the net, they cater for the latest browser, they try to make everyone comply with their standards, I dont see Microsoft nor Netscape listening to them.
The way it works is the W3C gives out guide lines for the browser and web master to follow, problem is no one listens as its very one sided.
a few tags that dont comply with W3C standards are body margins, backgrounds in tables, certain table layouts etc that actually work very well in the version 4,5 and 6 browsers.
DHTML was meant to be this new generation language, but sadly so much of its not supported, the W3C set guidelines for many web languages (and the keyword is guidelines) XHTML was released nearly two years ago (W3C had a big part in that - the next generation HTML) but again it hasnt caught on.

my advice - stick to what works, done properly it can display in multi browsers, doesnt limit you to certain ways.

I have tried reading there site, but I'd say their site would have to be one of the worst sites to naviagate around, sure their pages comply to xhtml and html 4 standards but the site isnt user friendly, give me user friendly anyday.

here is a quote from their site

Quote: Here you will find pointers to our specifications for HTML, guidelines on how to use HTML to the best effect, and pointers to related work at W3C.

keywords here being "pointers" and "guidelines"

Megan — Tue, 04 Dec 2001 02:38:04 +0000

As Busy said in Critiques, I think that the standard is a useful guide but not gospel. The way you have laid down the law about it in your site could definitely be scary to potential webmasters. The standard itself is a little on the scary side too!

Okay, I admit it, I haven't read it. Sue me. I know that it does say something about not using tables for layout and to use stylsheets instead. Yeah, that's realistic.... Really, though, I think that as long as a page works in most browsers then there shouldn't be a problem, whether it validates or not. Of course, working with the standard does make cross-browser compatibility a heck of a lot easier.