Designing With Web Standards

[paul]

Designing With Web Standards, 2nd Edition by Jeffrey Zeldman, Anyone has read this book? I found many good reviews in designing forums as well in slashdot & Amazon.

[kev woodman]

I've read it and Zeldman is an excellent author and an acknowledged expert on standards compliance. It's worth getting just so you know how guilty you should feel when you ignore the rules because they are too sodding awkward.

[paul]

Thanks Kev, I think I must read then.

[Celestialvie]

What are the advantages of designing with web standards? What if your site isn't for commercial purpose.. or what if you're not a webdesigner and it won't really matter to you?

[kev woodman]

A good point but I can think of a couple of reasons you should still code to standards even if it's just a personal site:

* longevity. If you stick to the rules then you should be able to revisit your site using whatever browser agent is the norm in 20 years time;

* cross-platform. Just because the site is only intended for you and a few friends doesn't mean that in six months time one of you won't by a Mac. Standards compliance helps cross-browser compatibility;

* accessibility. OK at the moment none of your intended audience may use an assistive technology to access the site (e.g. a screen reader) but you don't know that that will be the case in the future. And remember that the Web is a public arena - your site may be intended for a very small audience but once it's out there the whole world can wander through; and

* because if you want to play in the sandbox it's not too much to ask for you to follow some simple rules is it? For a personal site there's surely more reason for you to be able to say that you did the job properly.

[Falesh]

Another benefit is that using standards also helps SEO (search engine optimisation). Even if your site is a personal one it's nice to see it ranked well.

[sanderson]

SEO - that's a great point. Only the possibility to not to go with the standards is - if you don't want to show your site to everyone. And may want to keep it confidential.

[kev woodman]

Even if your site is just for you (although this begs the question - why would you put a site on the Web that is only for you) there's no excuse for not doing a good job.

[paul]

Yep, I don't think anyone would wish to keep ugly their personal site even especially when it is addressed for accessibility, quality, simplicity and increasing Clarity and conciseness.