The Importance of Web Standards

Back in early '96, the Web was merely more than a long list of text documents linked together by <a> tags, displaying an occasional image from time to time to spice things up. It had already come a long way from Tim Berners Lee's vision, but much was still to envision before it could achieve its full potential. In those days of old, needless to say, there wasn't much of a need for standardization as we mean it today.

Browsers were so forgiving in their interpretation of HTML that just about anyone could master the basics and build a Web presence. The courageous few that used JavaScript did so sparingly, in order to perform very basic tasks. Technologies such as DHTML and Flash were nowhere to be seen. Netscape Communicator 2.0 was in full swing and just about no one trusted Microsoft with its Internet Explorer browser. In this long-forgotten past, the World Wide Web was the exclusive playground of geeks and geniuses.

Boy... those were the days.

As the Web grew, so did the visions of thousands of developers worldwide. Recommendations started emerging from the W3C, in response to the pressure initiated by a leading-edge minority of Web builders who simply wanted more freedom in the expression of their work. However, most of the real pressure came from powerful browser companies who simply felt that nobody -- including the people who actually built the Web -- had the right to tell them how they should or should not act.

These companies took it upon themselves to support new markup tags that would only work in their particular product. However, some of these tags were so bad that they only helped broaden the chasm of incompatibility between browsers. This continued to the point where building a Website that would display equally well in all versions of all browsers was almost impossible.

HTML 4.0 and CSS-1 were brought forth as official Web standards from the W3C in an attempt to put an end to the chaos. For the first time in history, developers were given means to standardize code by separating the content of HTML documents from the presentation layout. Ingenious workarounds and hacks, while very effective and clever, led to the saturation of HTML. The language had become anything but what it had originally been intended as - a metalanguage that would add structure to text documents. It was time to turn to better, more able tools.

This need saw the advent of the promising XML and DOM. HTML 4.0 evolved into XHTML 1.0 and DHTML matured from its shaky debuts to an efficient state of reliability. New browser versions were introduced that supported the standards even more completely. Thus the future of the Web was bright once again...

The relevance of Web standards is most obvious when we consider emerging technologies. In these times of tremendous growth, the Web needs guidance in order to reach its full potential - and standards can serve as the perfect guides to help realize that potential. Let's now take a look at the people behind the standards, consider the standards themselves, and touch on some of the reasons why you should comply with them.

Who's Behind the Web Standards?

Everybody's heard about Web standards, yet very few really go the extra mille to comply with them. Currently, five standards have been officially implemented, and two more are in the works. Most of them come from the W3 Consortium. One standard, however, originated at another organization, called ECMA.

The W3C develops open specifications to enhance the interoperability of Web-related products, in an effort to ultimately standardize the WWW. Special working groups obtain a general consensus from companies and organizations that are active in the Web's development. These documents, called Working Drafts and Proposed Recommendations, are submitted to the W3C board of executive members and directors for formal approval as "official" W3C Recommendations. These Recommendations are what the Web standards are all about. They are the foundations upon which the future of Web building resides. They include HTML, XML, CSS and DOM.

ECMA's main role is to develop standards and technical reports in the field of information and communication technology. The Web standard brought up by ECMA has been accepted as a base for scripting standards worldwide. It's called ECMAScript, or ECMA-262, and it's a standardized, cleaner version of JavaScript.

What are the Standards?

• HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the first ever standard to emerge from the W3C, is widely used on the Web. It is by far the most common tool for designing Web pages, which is why people usually refer to HTML as the backbone of the WWW. Thanks to HTML structuring elements (tags), text documents interpreted by browsers can display their contents according to specified formats. HTML is one of the main reasons why the Web has become so popular over the years.
• XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is like HTML on steroids. While it supports most of the fixed set of elements contained in HMTL 4.0, it allows the coder to customize new tag elements according either to a pre-set DTD (Document Type Definition) or to one that can be personally defined. XML is much more flexible than HMTL and is totally future-oriented. XML is the standard through which the Web's full potential can be achieved.
• CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are a Web developer's dreams come true. It is a mechanism through which changes in appearance and position can be assigned to HTML or XML elements, simply by declaring specific styles to them. The overall appearance of entire sites can be so defined with the use of CSS, allowing it to be remodeled in a matter of seconds. This Standard was brought forward by the W3C to create a simpler and more structured World Wide Web.