One of the hottest topics in Web design and development today is Web standards. These standards are defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an industry consortium dedicated to ?leading the Web to its full potential?, in order to enhance interoperability of Web related products.

Why set a standard?

Chances are you are reading this article using one of the many Web browsers available. If you are using a standards compliant browser, then great ? you are viewing this site in all it?s standard?s compliant glory and should not have too hard a time finding your way around.

With the increasing number of browsers available to Internet users it is necessary to determine a set of standards so that what works in one browser works in another.

Standards provide forward compatibility for Web based content. This means that your site won?t break when your standards compliant browser is updated, or you decide to upgrade to the latest standards compliant browser.

Platform Independence

For many years the personal computer (probably similar to the machine you are using to access this page) has been used to access content on the Web using a Web browser. Web site?s have therefore been developed to be viewed on such a platform, with designers taking for granted that every user will be looking at their site with a screen resolution > 800 x 600 pixels.

Recent developments in PDA and mobile phone technology have created a new player in the platform market, with many new mobile phones and PDA?s being able to access the Web through built in Web browsers. With screen sizes varying dramatically from device to device, it is now necessary to not only accommodate for different browsers, but also for different platforms. Standards allow us to do this.

Accessibility

The structured nature of standards compliant Web pages enable Web pages to be accessed using tools other than visual Web browsers, including search engine spiders and screen readers.

The separation of code from content allow search engines to effectively evaluate the content of a standards compliant Website, enabling the search engine to index the Web site more precisely.

For example, a user with a visual impairment may require a screen reader in order to view a Web page. It would not be possible to guarantee this level of interoperability with non-standards compliant code. Adhering to Web standards provides a structured document layout allowing screen readers to logically parse the documents and guaranteeing interoperability with standards compliant screen readers.

Just the tip of the iceberg?

Many books have been written on the topic of Web standards, to cover every single aspect of Web standards would be well beyond the scope of this article. I do hope, however, that this article has highlighted some of the main facets of Web standards, and the next time you hear a Web designer prattling on about Web standards you will have a good idea why they are so important:

the provision of structured code, providing browser and platform independence

the visibility of separated code to search engines and other Web spiders

the interoperability between your Web site and Web browsers, screen readers and other clients which may happen across your Web site