Web Standards

For most Internet users (those who browse web pages), Web standards mean nothing. For Web developers ... those who design the web pages you're looking at ... Web standards mean everything.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the organization that sets the standards for Web development. Their goal is to make the Web accessible to everyone, regardless of the hardware or software being used. Standards makes it easy for those who code Web pages. Follow the W3C standards, and your pages will display properly and the same way on your cellphone or PC ... and in any Web browser.

Of course ... that would be in a perfect world. Almost all modern and current browsers do adhere to and work correctly using the W3C guidelines. However, there is one major exception ... and that, of course, is Internet Explorer.

"I'm using Internet Explorer and the pages look fine. What's the problem?" The "problem" is Web developers can't write standard code to display Web pages correctly across all browsers. Pages written using standard code, many times work as intended in standard compliant browsers, but are trashed when viewed using IE. So developers have to "hack" their standard code, in order to make the pages work in IE. Other developers write code specifically for IE browsers ... making sites that are unusable with other browsers ... going against the goals of W3C.

In a recent article, Paul Thurrott writes about the IE7 Beta, and its shortcomings when it comes to W3C standards. He is concerned that the final release of IE7 (as is the case with IE6) will continue to be non-compliant with all W3C standards. He says users should demand more from Microsoft, by boycotting IE and switching to a better alternative Web browser.