Web site development with (X)HTML:
Why care about best practices? (V2)
Introduction
"The W3C develops open specifications (de facto standards) to enhance the interoperability of web-related products. W3C Recommendations are developed by working groups consisting of Consortium members and invited experts." http://webstandards.org/learn/faq/
A lot has already been written about the benefits of using web standards for web site development. In this article I'll focus on the real objective benefits for developers, clients and users when developing, buying or using interoperable and accessible websites built with HTML/XHTML and CSS.
There are two main visions on the meaning of web standards:
- W3C technology conformant with the specifications - valid code
- and a broader one that adds some important development practices along with standard compliant code.
The practices
- Valid code (respect W3C specifications)
- Separation of content and presentation
- Semantic markup
- Understand accessibility recommendations (WAI)
1. Device independence. A HTML document operable in many different devices.
1. Valid code
"Validation is the process of controlling that a document obeys the rules of the language used in the document."
Valid code results in better interoperability:
- it helps browsers and other user agents to understand the code and render it as supposed (this works for HTML as well as CSS) (USERs/CLIENT)
2. Separation of content and presentation
2. One CSS file (presentation) define the styles of several documents (content).
- easier to code and maintain (DEV/CLIENT)
- smaller pages: less bandwidth usage, less server load, faster page loading (USERs/CLIENT)
- ability to control document presentation based on the device type accessing the website. This is done by serving different style sheets for different media types. Media types include screen, print, aural, handheld, projection, and more. (USERs/CLIENT) http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/media.html
3. A HTML document served differently to different device types.
3. Semantic markup
- code is easier to read / maintain. (DEV)
- machines get more meaning from the markup. From search engine robots to assistive technologies like screen readers. (USERs/CLIENT)
- pages are still readable and usable when stylesheets aren't loaded. This is usefull when navigating the site with very old browsers or devices that don't support css. (USERs/CLIENT)
- thinking about semantics of a document force developers to focus more on content and can help make design and information architecture decisions (DEV)
4. Accessibility
It's main goal is to improve the experience of disabled visitors and vivitors with special needs. The main principles in wich the guidelines for WCAG 2.0 are arranged:
- Content must be perceivable
- Interface components in the content must be operable
- Content and controls must be understandable
- Content should be robust enough to work with current and future user agents (including assistive technologies)
There are very important auxiliary benefits in building accessibile websites:
"Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design" (outdated incomplete draft) WAI
"Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization" WAI
- 1. Increase Market Share and Audience Reach
- 2. Improve Efficiency
- 3. Demonstrate Social Responsibility
- 4. Reduce Legal Liability
Main Issue
Multi-platform cross-browser websites are not easy to achive due to differences in the way user agents understand and respect standards. It's not difficult to make the website look as suposed one browser, specially if it is a modern browser with good standards support (e.g. Firefox, Opera, Safari) but if you want your site to look and behave exactly the same in different browsers including old browsers things get more complex. But, the web is full of amazing resources that help developers solve this issues, like:
Make good use of them. Good luck ;)
References
Author: joao@letspushthingsforward.com