[thelist] Why code for standards

[iris]

--- Shoshannah Forbes <xslf at xslf.com> wrote:
> Over and over again, when talking to Israeli web
> developers, when I mention
> standards, coding for standards, and using stuff
> like valid html and css, I
> get a rather lost look, and the reply "why code for
> standards? It works in
> IE5 as it is, so why bother making our new version
> of our CMS system we are
> working on now generate valid code, and why get rid
> of font tags- they are
> so convenient!"
>
> If you try to use valid code in your project- why do
> you do so?

maintenance issues

presentational styles are so much easier applied
across a whole site by using stylesheets

interoperability / accessibility

to keep presentation separate from structure. html is
a structural mark-up language, which was meant for
easy sharing of information across a variety of
systems.  clean standard-compliant html can be
interpreted by the most basic of technologies (or
smallest, think of cell phones, pdas etc).

user control

keep styles separte and users can apply their own.
users with low vision might want to change the font
size, the background and text color...

...and this whole IE-only issue:

tell them the tale of how MSN got shouted down
recently for blocking other browsers from accessing
it's site.


some reading material:

webmonkey/design/
Device Independence Day
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/templates/print_template.htmlt?meta=/webmonkey/01/08/index4a_meta.html

Raise Your Standards
By Molly E. Holzschlag
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2002/02/desi/

there's loads more... google it.

i wish i could find the one about figures for loss of
revenue due to excluding

hope that helps

iris



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