7 Reasons Why Your Website Should Use Web Standards

7 Reasons Why Your New or Redesigned Website Should Use Web Standards

There's a lot of talk about Web Standards these days. Simply put, a website that is designed or redesigned to meet Web Standards is one that conforms to the Internet's internationally accepted "rules of the road."

What happens when you use Web Standards?

1. It becomes available to a wider variety of devices, such as Internet-enabled cell phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). It also becomes available to the millions of computer users who aren't using the "Microsoft Internet Explorer on a Windows PC" setup for their web browsing.
2. The pages download and display faster, which means that visitors will be more willing to stick around and see what the site has to offer. And studies show that using Web Standards will reduce the "weight" of a site by 25-50%.
3. Web Standards-based sites have a low "code to content" ratio. This makes it easier for search engines to read and understand the site's content without having to plow through thickets of HTML code. In some cases, a low "code to content" ratio can boost a website's search engine rankings.
4. The site becomes accessible to blind and low-vision users.
5. The site uses less bandwidth. Since hosting companies charge based on the amount of bandwidth used, the less you use, the less you pay.
6. It's easier and faster to maintain a Web Standards-based site. That's because these sites are built so that structure and presentation are separated. Which means that if you want to change how your site's headlines look, all you need to do is change one file, and the headlines are automatically updated to your new style.
7. Ever printed a page, only to have it come out with some of the text missing? With a Web Standards-based site, every page can be a printer-friendly page. No more hunting for that little "printer-friendly" icon!

In short, both you and your website visitors will enjoy many benefits if you design or redesign according to Web Standards.

Western Sky Communications can bring your site up to Web Standards. To get started, request your FREE project quote now!