CSS Lounge

What actually are web standards and why are they important? This entire website is about web standards. What they are, how they should be used and why. But exactly what is meant by following web standards?

So What Are Web Standards?

Follwing “web standards” means following best practices for web technologies which the W3C generates. Web standards focuses on main web technologies such (x)HTML, CSS and DOM. With the combination of these technologies a developer should strive to meet certain levels of accessibility. Accessibility on the web is also outlined by the W3C in their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines have three differing levels of compliance.

These web standards are here to help everyone. They help developers generate efficient and manageable code. The aid end users because of the semantic mark-up which works well with assistive technologies such as screen readers. And standards help clients keep costs down because redesigns are quicker and cheaper and hosting prices are lower.