The 3 Best CSS Resources Every Designer Should Know

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Web standards are extremely important in creating a fully functional, “validatable” website. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), along with other groups and standards bodies, has established technologies for creating and interpreting web-based content. These technologies, which we call “web standards,” are carefully designed to deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number of web users while ensuring the long-term viability of any document published on the Web (webstandardsgroup.org).

Step-By-Step Standards Via Video

There are multiple tutorials online through both text and video. The first thing that I found to be helpful for web structure is this 4-part video that takes you through the step-by step process of developing web standards.

Web Standards are Important

W3C develops technical specifications and guidelines through a process designed to maximize consensus about the content of a technical report, to ensure high technical and editorial quality, and to earn endorsement by W3C and the broader community (w3.org/standards).

By definiton, a standard is just the dominant design in an industry. This means that if your company is first with an application it might create the standard. It also means that a standard might not be the best design or the most efficient, it is just the one with the widest use (webdesign.about.com/cs/html40/a/aa030303a.htm).

Online Food for Thought

Without argument, one of the most important things to consider when creating a website is that it be accessible to everyone who wants to view it. Does your website play nice with screen readers? Can a user override your style sheet with a more accessible one and still see everything your website has to offer? Would another Web developer be embarrassed if they saw your code? If your website is standards-compliant, you could more confidently answer these questions (webdesign.about.com/cs/html40/a/aa030303a.htm).

The bottom line: If you want your website to be visible in a search engine, web standards are essential to making it happen. Go to google.com for web standards and search the links. In this case, the web is definitely your friend.