D. Keith Robinson's Gorilla Web Tips

Tip Number Eight - Web Standards Frequently Asked Questions

August 27th, 2003

Why Web Standards FAQ's

I'm often asked about Web standards and what they mean to the Web and Web development. While I'm an advocate for Web standards and do my best to use them under the umbrella of Web best practices, I also live and work in the real world and recognize that Web standards aren't a religion and even though they're "standard" (pardon the pun), they're also open to interpretation.

Hey, if the major browsers can have different interpretations of Web standards, you can bet Web professionals will as well.

I've prepared the following frequently asked questions based on my experience with Web standard development in the real world. You won't hear (too) much selling here, and I'll try to keep my answers as short and sweet as possible. I plan on this being a living document, so the answers may change over time as Web standards develop and change (thus the last updated date below) and (hopefully) more questions will be added.

Last updated August 27, 2003

What are Web Standards?
What are the Web Standard technologies?
Why use Web Standards?
Why doesn't everyone use Web standards?
Where should I start with Web standards?
What is the best way to support Web standards?
Can I use tables for layout and still support Web standards?
What is a DTD (Document Type Definition) and why is it important?
What is the difference between a Strict and Transitional DTD?
Do my pages have to validate?
Can I use Flash and still support Web standards?
How do Web standards relate to semantically correct document structure?

What are Web Standards?

Web standards are technologies established by the W3C and other groups to create a common ground for Web development. The goal in creating these technologies is to insure the life span of documents on the Web as well as to make sure each of these documents work correctly for as many users as possible.

What are the Web Standard technologies?

For the purposes of these FAQ's I'll be talking mainly about XHTML (1.0 and 1.1), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and XML 1.0. There are more. To learn more about Web standards and it's related technologies visit The Web Standards Project or pick up a copy of Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman.

Why use Web Standards?

There are many reasons for developing for Web standards including:

Simplicity of development - Web standards can save you time and money.
Insurance of future browser compatibility - Web standards can save you time and money.
Ease of maintenance - Web standards can save you time and money.
More consistent cross-browser display - Your users will thank you.
Pages will load faster - Your users will thank you.
Pages will be more accessible - Your users will thank you.

The bottom line reasons why you should be developing for Web standards is that it can save you time and money and provide a better experience to your users. Those aren't the only reasons, but they should be reasons enough.

Why doesn't everyone use Web standards?

The promise of Web standards can only be fulfilled if we have consistent standards support from the major browsers. At this point in time, while all modern browsers (Mozilla, IE 5+ Mac, IE 6+ Windows, Opera 7) offer good support for Web standards, they don't all support them the same. Because of that fact, and various other reasons, some Web designers and developers are often reluctant to take on the challenge of Web standards.

Web standard development, while I promise you is easier than it appears at first, can also seem very daunting. Traditional methods of Web development, by and large, need to be left behind to make a move to Web standards. Technologies like Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), while a staple of Web development, can become much more important (and therefore much more complex) when used to fulfill the promise of Web standards.

It is a common misconception that Web standards are "harder" than traditional means of Web development. This is hardly the case. At it's most basic level, Web standards are much simplified.

Where should I start with Web standards?

The easiest way to get started with Web standards is to learn XHTML. This will give you a solid foundation to move forward with and if you know HTML should be very easy to pick up as it is, in essence, a simplified version of HTML. Here is a great resource for getting started with XHTML. A more in-depth overview can be found here.

Next you would want to get up to speed with CSS so that you can learn all about how to separate your content from your presentation, a Web best practice that is a good idea even if it weren't helping support Web standards. You can get started with the W3C's CSS Tutorial and if you are looking for some more extensive and advanced resources try the CSS Zen Garden and CSS Edge.

What is the best way to support Web standards?

This is a tricky question and the answer would differ depending on who you ask. As standards and browser support for those standards evolve the playing field will change, thus having an effect on how Standards are supported by developers.

My advice would be to strive for an advanced, yet practical, approach. Where you can and where it makes sense, go with as little presentational elements in your XHTML as possible. In other words try and go to XHTML 1.0 (strict DTD), loose the tables, (except for tabular data) font tags, etc. and place all your presentation into your CSS. If you can't support it all the way, that is ok, it's not the end of the world if you need to go with XHTML 1.0 (transitional DTD) or have a page or two that doesn't validate. The key here is to understand where you are lacking in standard support and make contentious decisions as to what you can (will) and can't (won't) support.

Can I use tables for layout and still support Web standards?

Yes, if you are talking about supporting XHTML 1.0 (Transitional DTD). Tables are a valid element in XHTML and "going table-less" isn't needed to support that standard. If you want to take it further, to XHTML 1.0 (strict DTD), you would need to loose all presentational elements from your markup and move them to a stylesheet if you want the page to validate. Technically tables are fine, but you would be using them for tabular data, not layout. It's up to you, both routes do support standards and both will be here for a long while.

If your site or project has a short life span, for example, you may feel fine with using a tabled layout and going with XHTML 1.0 (transitional DTD). On the other hand, if you foresee a redesign in your future or if your content needs a long life, XHTML 1.0 (strict DTD) would better serve you.

What is a DTD (Document Type Definition) and why is it important?

A DTD or Document Type Definition is used to define the allowable syntax used in your documents. By placing a DTD into your document you can validate or check your markup against an established standard. XHTML 1.0 has three flavors of DTD: Transitional, Strict and Frameset. To learn more about XHTML's DTDs and validation check out the examples and information from w3schools.

What is the difference between a Strict and Transitional DTD?

You would use a "strict" DTD to validate your code if you wanted to eliminate presentational markup and go with a CSS based layout (no tables for layout being the biggest reason to do this) and you would use "transitional" if you wanted to ease into XHTML by using some of HTML's presentation elements (tables mainly).

Do my pages have to validate?

Depends on who you ask, my answer is, no, they don't. There are some that believe that to meet the promise of Web standards that every page on a site needs to validate against the W3C's validators While I would agree that this can be helpful and a goal to strive for, I don't think it's necessary.

There are varying levels of standards compliance and some common Web technologies either won't validate or need special workarounds. Things like special characters, funky URLs and other things that could quite possibly have no baring on how page renders can choke the validator as well. It really depends on how far you want to go to please it. In my mind, it's much more important to validate against your users and their browsers than against the W3C.

In the real world you don't need to support Web standards on every page of every site. This would be a great thing to shoot for, but there are many times when it's just not practical. Web standards are guidelines not commandments. A valid document is great, but not absolutely needed for a site to support standards.

Can I use Flash and still support Web standards?

Absolutely. If done properly, the use of Flash, while not a Web standard technology, can be a fine addition to a Web standards compliant site. There are even methods to insure your Flash will not choke the W3C's XHTML validator. An all-Flash site, however, would probably not fall into that category. Macromedia is a very forward-thinking company however and Flash does have a future on the Web, so time will tell.

How do Web standards relate to semantically correct document structure?

While these two things are related and both fall into Web best practices they are different and often confused. With a semantically correct XHTML document for example, every tag would have meaning. That is, you would use a <h1> tag for a heading and a <p> for a paragraph. While this does help with document structure and fits right alongside the essence of what Web standards are all about, it does not need to be done to insure standards compliance.

Proper document structure can definitely help you along the road to full standards compliance, and simplified XHTML seems to really go hand in hand with a semantically correct document. But they are two different things.