Week 3: Web Standards

It is very important to have standards. We have standards of weights and measures. There's agreement on how long a foot is and how much a pound weights. There are industry standards. You don't have to worry about electronic devices only working with one kind of wall outlet (at least not until you go overseas). There's even standards for the weight of yarn.

So why not use standards for the web?

There are already plenty of articles explaining why web standards are good and necessary. The main reasons are:

Maintenance and Production: It is easier and faster, and therefore cheaper, to create a web site that uses standards than to create a site specifically for one browser using proprietary code (or worse, a different site for each browser).

Accessibility: You can make your site more accessible by coding to standards. This is usually stated in reference to disabled users but will also help those hampered by older technology or slow/limited Internet access.

Search Engine Optimization: Other things being equal, a site with valid code is ranked higher by Google than a site with invalid code.

Professionalism and Quality: If you're a web developer writing standard code shows that you know what you're doing. You want to be seen as someone who is current on industry standards, technologies, and best practices. If you own the site then you don't want your site to flat out break in other modern browsers even if it isn't the one most of your target audience.

There are more of course: page weight, re-usability of the code, etc. but these are the reasons I see given the most often. They're also the reasons that both the developer and site owner will care about.

So are there any arguments against using web standards? I didn't really find any articles railing against standards but here are two reasons I've heard not to bother with them.

Tables are easier than using CSS
If browsers would support the multi-column layout module I would just say that this statement is false and move on. But since this is not the case then it may be true in production depending on your comfort level with CSS. But once the site is in maintenance you're in trouble and here's why: the client can't see the table, they only see space.

I can GUARANTEE that eventually the client is going to ask for content to be added someplace that is going to break the template because there is space there. They can't see that putting a wider banner in that cell is going to throw off the spacing for the entire table. They can't see that the change they're requesting is going to require adjusting all of the colspans and rowspans in the table. They only know that they are being quoted/charged an awful lot of money for what looks like a very simple change.

The site has to look exactly the same in every browser so it's OK to make the developer write hacky code.
No.

No, no, no, no, no.

No.

And also no.

I'm going to quote/paraphrase John Allsopp here and say that a site does not have to look exactly the same in multiple browsers because most people don't use different browsers on a regular basis. At worst, for the average non-web designing user, they might be using IE6 at work because they have to and a different browser when they use a mobile device. But no one expects sites to look exactly the same on a mobile device as they do on a computer and since IE6 is not a modern browser there can't be a reasonable expectation for things to even work in it, much less look the same as they would in IE8 or FF 3.x.

Yes, I did say earlier that you don't want your site completely broken browsers other than the one used by the majority of your users but there's a difference between the template being broken and something being 5 pixels farther to the left in IE than it is in FF.

Side Note:
OK, how ridiculous is this? Apple has an HTML5 showcase but blocks you if you try to view the demos in anything other than Safari. *facepalm*
Found via an article in InfoQ.

Fall 2010 - Week 1: Interact with Web Standards Chapter Summary

Chapter 5 – Writing for the Web

The chapter begins with how people read websites and how that differs from how people read printed media. We're told what bad and good web writing does with a brief description of SEO. The chapter then gives us a list of tools to organize and style content. A list of web writing tips and tips for keeping the content updated finish the chapter.

The Writer

Writing for the web is trickier than you might think. It requires having multiple skills: the ability to write creatively and on technical subjects, organize content into categories from multiple sources, balance user needs and business goals, and so on. A successful web writer must understand what the user wants and how they will use the web site.

The User

People do not use web sites the same way that they read books. Users go to a site to do specific tasks. They scan pages for relevant information and will leave if they can't find it quickly. Visually impaired users do the same with the aid of special tools. The user will also interact with a site via tools like forms or chat if available.

The Content

The content should be "useful, usable, engaging, and findable". The text should be descriptive but not wordy; personable, but not sloppy. The style should be consistent. It should aid findability for both users and search engines without sacrificing readability. Whatever is most important to the user should be easiest to find on the page.

The Tools

There are several things a web writer should use:

• Copy deck – All of the text for the web site


• Content audit/inventory – A list of all the web pages in a site, their URLs, and any notes about its current state
  
• Style guide – Describes how the text should look, its tone, voice, etc.
  
• Wireframes – A layout of the web page
  
• Sitemap – The hierarchy of all of the web pages in the site
  

The Tips

Erin Anderson lists ten tips for writing for the web. Start with the conclusion. Begin sentences with verbs. Be brief but be specific. Keep the sentence structure simple. Make the text easy to scan by breaking up text into short paragraphs and lists. Use short, concise headings. Headings and links should be accurate. Have the content reviewed by someone knowledgeable. Get writing hints from other good web sites.

Keep the content updated by scheduling regular audits and updates. Put people in charge of the content for specific pages or sections.