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Web Standards

Founded in 1998, The Web Standards Project (WaSP) fights for standards that reduce the cost and complexity of development while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability of any site published on the Web. We work with browser companies, authoring tool makers, and our peers to deliver the true power of standards to this medium.

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Web Site Design Web Design Standards

The methods that we are currently using to build our custom web site designs consist of two main components – XHTML 1.0 and CSS. XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) is used for structural markup on the web pages, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are used for presentational aspects of the web pages. CSS is a standard layout language for the web – one that controls colors, typography, and the size and placement of elements and images. XHTML and CSS are part of current Web Design Standards which are supported in mainstream browsers and authoring tools and are changing web site design methods for the better.

Benefits of Using XHTML

The following are benefits of using XHTML vs. HTML:

• XHTML is the current Web Design Standard for markup, replacing HTML 4.
• XHTML is more consistent that HTML, so it's less likely to cause problems of function and display. It provides clean, semantic markup that is not cluttered with "junk" markup.
• XHTML is designed to work will with other XML-based markup languages, applications, and protocols - an advantage that HTML lacks.
• Old browsers are as comfortable with XHTML as they are with HTML. New browsers love XHTML (particularly XHTML 1.0), and many give it special treatment not granted to pages authored in HTML 4. This makes XHTML more predictable than HTML in many cases.
• XHTML works as well in wireless devices, screen readers, and other specialized User Agents as it does in traditional desktop browsers, therefore supporting web site accessibility.

Benefits of Using CSS

The following are benefits of using CSS:

• CSS reduces design and development time. A single CSS file can control the appearance of an entire site. By using external style sheets (styles listed in a separate file and imported or linked by web pages), all pages that use a particular style sheet can be updated quickly and easily by editing a single style sheet file.
• CSS is bandwidth friendly. Since external style sheets are cached (stored once they are first requested and loaded), they help to conserve user bandwidth and page load time. They also reduce owner server an bandwidth overhead, thus saving money for the site owner.
• CSS allows for greater freedom with design while increasing web site accessibility. In many cases, it removes the need for creating special markup versions of web sites (i.e. wireless versions, text-only versions, printer-friendly versions), and allows sites to reach more visitors with less work and at lower cost.
• CSS allows web sites to be tailored to both old and new browsers. Using style sheets allows the designer to control the order in which content is displayed in a non-compliant browser without compromising how the site is displayed in compliant browsers.

Web Design Standards are truly changing web site design methods for the better. Building web sites with these standards in mind is beneficial for both site owners and site users – a win-win situation. In particular, web site accessibility features ensure that standards-based web sites will keep up with new and emerging browsers, platforms and devices, and the special needs of people using the Internet.