What are the W3C standards, and what means XHTML compliant?
Note: all external links on this page will open in a new window!
The W3C is the World Wide Web consortium, one of their tasks is to set, list and check the standards, the correct code to use on web pages. When a page is done correctly, most of the browsers will parse the code exactly as intended, and without any error. Even if you do not see errors, some errors might prevent your site to display correctly on other browsers, and some might prevent a good indexation of your site in search engines.
Some browsers like Internet Explorer do not follow totally those standards, and some fixes must be applied to have that browser to behave as wanted. We perfectly know thoses fixes, as well as the code to employ to have a totally compliant and correct code used on your website.
When you choose a webdesigner, please take some time to see if they build pages correctly. The W3C provide a tool to check if the code is correctly done or not.
If you follow this image link, you will arrive on that tool, with the check done on this very page.
In order to test someone else site, go on the W3C validator page, and enter their URL in the field called "Validate by url, address"
If the code is compliant, a green bar will appear and say "this page is valid XHTML". If the code is not compliant, the number of errors will be displayed, along with a red bar mentionning "this page is not valid". One of the most common and biggest error is when no DOCTYPE is found in the code. Some amateur designers have more than 10 or 20 errors on their homepage! But do not mistake with the error mentioned when the validation tool is not available.
Alongside the XHTML, a page design holds a stylesheet (CSS), this can be checked in the same way, if you see "congratulations" on the first line of the validation tool, all is ok!
- Test this very page
- Test another site, go on the CSS Validator tool page, and enter the URL of the site to test in "Address".
Furthermore, you must know that some visitors do deactivate the javascript and stylesheet and see the basic site without all the "decoration", this is often the case with disabled visitors, having for example a screen reader literally reading the page for them (for visually impaired). This is important to ensure accessibility to those visitors, and also bear in mind the search engine robots are blind when they visit your site. Beware of the designers only developing in flash, or with javascript menus. It might look nice and all flashy, but won't be well indexed in search engines, and your site will be skipped by the persons with low or no vision. It is also very important that an information is not carried only by images. Those images won't be seen by everybody, and must contains the correct attribute for text visitors.
See here for this page as it is seen by those robots (search engine robots, and screen readers robots). You see all information? that's good, that's the aim!
There are more details which we never skip when we build a webdesign, for example the ability for visitors to expand or reduce the text size in their browser.
The text tool in the Content Management System we provide allow you not to worry about all this, it builds for you a correct code of your content, in a correct design done by us!
Please be sure to choose your designer correctly.
