Web Standards

Operationally

Creating websites with web standards is about the implementation of best practices and implementation of the code according to certain rules. The application is technical, but the end results are surprisingly clear in operational terms, increasing the positive response to users and reducing costs by a substantial opportunity for significant return of investment.

This is a non-technical article focuses on how your business can benefit from using web standards.

Reducing the duration of the construction site, reduced development costs

Websites (web-sites) created with web standards take less time to construct. While with the non-web standards methodologies you may have to build different versions of your web site on different platforms and different browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc), with web standards, which are not based on any proprietary technology from the very definition, you don't need to do this.

Websites created with web standards take less time to construct.

There is no need to make a version of Internet Explorer-only, excluding a growing market share using alternative browsers (eg Mozilla Firefox) or take the long and costly task of building multiple versions of a website to adapt in multiple browsers. In these cases, the use of web standards increases the market share while reducing time and development costs.

There is no need to create "print-friendly" versions of pages because the web standards allow you to experience the same page very differently when printed.

Because the construction of pages with web standards means that they can be validated against a set of rules, it is also much easier to find and correct errors in the same way that the code in a programming language simply will not "run" if not written correctly. The bugs can be found quickly and effectively and can be corrected by reducing the time required for checking the correct operation of the site.

As in the initial development of a website, so maintenance should generally be much less painful. The content, which doesn't need special formatting, can be imported without concern for uniform presentation - all aspects of how presentation is controlled are taken care by a separate source (CSS). And because it shows how the content is a separate piece, the changes in artistic piece can be achieved quickly and easily from one source. It is even possible to completely redesign your site by changing only one file, there is no need to reconstruct pages.

Considering how much it costs to pay an employee or a company to create web sites, this reduction of the necessary work means saving hundreds, possibly even thousands of euros depending on the complexity of your web site.

Reducing file sizes, reduced bandwidth (bandwidth), reduced accommodation costs (hosting)

Perhaps the most noticeable and spectacular benefit of using web standards, is the extent to which they tend to reduce file sizes compared to other previous methods.

Compared to the old school (yet very common) methodology based on layout tables (tables) and scrawly HTML, an improved approach using web standards tend to dramatically reduce the size (KB) page, at least 50%. This is achieved through the following factors:

  • The code of individual pages can be reduced to minimum size.
  • Because web standards "pass" the control to the presentation, image files, which previously were necessary to distinguish the parties from making up the layout or to achieve a certain look, can be removed.
  • Complex drop-down menu & rollovers can be replaced with simpler alternatives.

Add all these factors together results in a much smaller file sizes. Smaller file sizes mean lower bandwidth (bandwidth), substantially reduced costs for hosting the popular websites.

Increasing usability, increasing positive response

Another benefit of smaller file sizes is an increase in speed - smaller sites will load faster.

An important conclusion is that if something takes less time to do, chances are that the visitor of the website will respond to it.

The less time you need to present the information or product to your customers, the better they will respond, creating a better impression and more interest in your business.

Increasing accessibility, increasing market share and reducing the likelihood of legal action

Talking about usability, how usable is your website to people with disabilities? One in ten people in Greece live under conditions of temporary or permanent disability or incapacity. While certainly one million people will not be directly affected it is still clearly a large number.

Web standards help you deal with access to the installation of appropriate foundations to a website and then add special structures so that they are easier to use and understand by a broader, temporary or permanent disability population.

When you are sure that your website makes sense for a blind person or can be navigated directly from a person with mobility problems, these are estimates that not only allow access to your business in an important piece of population ignored by most other companies that have online presence, but ethical considerations are supported by its legal obligations.

Better placement in search engines, increased traffic

Search engines prefer web standards. A well-made website, with titles, headings and well-structured content, would be more likely to " be seen" by a search engine. Needless to say, that as your site will be higher in search results, more people will visit.

Increased coherence, increasing brand awareness

It is not unusual for a company to maintain a website with hundreds or thousands of pages or even have several different web sites, such as an e-commerce site, a corporate site and several micro-sites. Just as the printed material, as more online material is produced by one company, the harder it is to monitor and maintain compliance with the rules of the brand and style guides.

Using web standards, you can control how you present the sites, ensuring consistency. From the adoption of your logo up to the line-height in a paragraph, there is no need to change individual pages, but rather only a small part of a small single-file.

Conclusion

An investment made in the web standards will ultimately reduce the time and cost of development, and at the same time increase the income through an enlarged market and positive response from visitors.