Standards-Based Web Design and the Evolution of the Internet

When the dotcom bubble burst in 2001, investors pulled out of information technologies faster than you can say WorldCom, convinced that the Internet had reached its apex, creatively, ideologically, and commercially. In a way, they were right. The Internet as we knew it in the 1990s was clunky, stupid, and boring. The increasingly interactive, dynamic online world of today is a different creature entirely.

The Internet is once again the new frontier for business growth and opportunity. Half of the commercials we see on TV advertise websites. Both by necessity and volition, people spend a good part of their day living online: checking the weather, reading the news, working, shopping, and interacting with community.

This is Web 2.0, the next generation of online technology, and it is all about pushing the boundaries of what applications have traditionally been able to do. A significant part of Web 2.0 is W3C, an international organization dedicated to developing standards for the World Wide Web that will allow it to flourish to the absolute maximum of its creative and commercial potential.

When it comes to web development and Internet software design, employment of web standards to promote usability and accessibility is THE word of the day. Google it and see for yourself. There are many reasons to take advantage of web standards when it comes to your business’s website, and they all translate into ensuring that your site will be a cost-effective moneymaker.

For starters, using web standards will make your business look good. These standards are designed to make websites accessible to people with disabilities. By separating content from the presentation layer, a site built using web standards becomes available to technologies used by demographics, such as the blind and the elderly, to explore the web. And really, what is the purpose of the Internet if not to bring people together in a world of pure information where the limitations of physical disadvantages do not apply?

Web standards also benefit business in huge ways by making sites accessible to 95% of online technologies and web browsers. Potential consumers can easily be turned off by a website that doesn’t work on their PDA, or that snubs their Mac browser, but a standards-compliant website will not only welcome nearly all visitors, but will provide an easy-to-navigate, visually appealing experience that, like an attractive storefront, will generate confidence, trust, and ultimately, sales.
The question for many businesses today is not whether to create a standards-compliant website, but whether it is worth the time and expense necessary to convert. To answer this question, consider the effort currently required to ensure your website’s cross-browser compatibility. In the future, as information technology grows, this problem is just going to get worse.

One of the major benefits of web standards is that they virtually ensure that what is online today, will be able to adapt, and remain viable, in the future. Standards-compliant websites are also easy to build, and cheap to maintain, using, on average, half of the bandwidth sucked up by outdated designs.

Last but not least, conversion offers the advantage of better search engine rankings. A standards-compliant website is not only easy for all people, in all walks of life, to read, but also easy for search engines to read, and therefore, pick up on.

Everyday, the Internet reveals itself as being increasingly functional and accessible, the sort of creature that survives changes and setbacks with style. A major part of this evolution is standards-based web design. These standards further the excellent goal of making the web available to everybody. However, in this happy electronic community, the primitive rule of survival of the fittest still applies to business, and staying abreast of this evolutionary leap will play a pivotal role in dividing the success stories from the dinosaurs.

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