What is the World Wide Web Consortium?
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was set up in 1994 and is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. W3C is a global organization with more then sixteen offices around the world. W3C has many functions including, ensuring compatibility between different technologies used on the internet.
Before the introduction of W3C, incompatible versions of HTML (Webpage coding) were put forward by different companies which could have led to inconsistencies between web pages. This could have led to major problems such as pages not rendering correctly or different technologies conflicting. W3C recommends certain technologies that integrate and work together insuring that the internet works as seamlessly as possible.
As well as working with different vendors and companies to insure technology works and integrates together, W3C also developed standards for the internet. To ensure the user experience is of high quality while using the internet W3C also recommend high quality standardised code be used by web developers. Following W3C guidelines also helps make websites accessible for people with disabilities. These guidelines require alternative text descriptions for images and flash content, which can then be interpreted by screen readers. W3C also provide support to web designers by publishing an extensive library of free tutorials online. They also provide forums and a free validation service to insure your HTML code is error free. W3C validated websites are entitled to display the W3C logo on their pages. These logos show that care has been taken to create a website.
Because of W3C, website design has come a long way over the past few years, with many web designers adopting and implementing World Wide Web Consortium coding guidelines. Even though W3C recommend the use of quality code and good web standards they are not in a position to enforce their recommendations. This means that web designers are under no obligation to create quality websites. Some web designers criticise W3C because they claim it doesn’t give them carte blanche to use code as they like. Some of these designers also claim it curbs their creative flair, others just simply resent the idea of an organisation like W3C setting standards for web coding. The fact is that the advantages of using W3C standards greatly outweigh any disadvantages put forward.
One of the main advantages of embracing W3C standards is that it helps professionalise web design. One of the biggest problems that web designers face is that there is no compulsory professional standard that people must reach to become a web designer. One thing that damages the image of website design is the fact that there are many amateur designers out there that construct poor quality websites. As a result some businesses end up with websites of inferior quality that don’t render or function correctly. A poorly constructed website reflects badly on a business and can cost them customers and sales.
By adopting W3C guidelines and using a quality standard code you know that your website will perform as it should, and will therefore be easier to update. Because W3C recommendations provide a quality standard for web coding, they should be adopted by designers who want to be known for creating quality websites. After all providing a quality service is always beneficial to customers and web designers alike.
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