The benefits of Web Standards to your visitors, your clients and you!
13. How do you achieve Web Standards?
Web Standards are not a black and white issue. All developers should be aiming to gradually move towards Web Standards-based sites.
The move from traditional to Web Standards based development takes time and practice. Rather than jump in and quickly becoming frustrated, set achievable goals and gradually move towards Web Standards. For example:
Basic changes
- Add a correct doctype to all pages
- Add alt text to all images
- Add meaningful page titles
Intermediate changes
- valid code
- semantically correct code
- replacing inline font tags and inline colour with CSS
- accessible forms, data tables and skip menus
Advanced changes
- Basic positioning with CSS (padding, margins etc) while using overall table for layout
- full positioning with CSS - no tables for layout
Practice CSS layouts
- read CSS tutorials and books to get an understanding of practical CSS
- set aside time to learn CSS positioning without external pressure
- practice a variety of CSS layouts until you are confident