Standards bragging rights
“I’ve hand-coded my site in valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and valid CSS, please hold the applause.”
This is what I hear, whenever I see links, buttons or tags that point to the W3C validator just to show that the current website that I’m viewing has valid coding. So, you’ve got a site that you’ve coded using the latest “standards”, big deal. Shouldn’t you, as a web designer/programmer always strive to program valid, semantically correct code? Perhaps not, but I think you should.
When I first started playing with website design, I was 14 years old. I first used Tripod(tm)’s own Website building web app, which was comparable to Geocities builder in those days. I created a very small Star Wars fan site. Was it valid standardized code? Who knows. The point is, I was only playing, so it shouldn’t really matter.
Moving forward in time, when I decided that I wanted to make a living at programming for the web, I started to use a program called Frontpage. Was the code that Frontpage auto-wrote valid standardized code? Who knows, but it probably wasn’t far off. I think that programs such as Frontpage was the reason that IE became so lenient with it’s parsing of HTML, but I’ll reserve my comments on this for another post.
Present day. Do you think that the web designers/developers of today should follow the W3C’s, and the community’s suggestion and write websites in valid standardized code? I do. I believe that it’s the responsibility of the programmers to make any standard, that the community grabs onto, the norm by using it.
What about our clients, should they care if we are using valid standardized code? Absolutely. If the project that you’re currently working on for your client is to have longevity, cross browser compatibility, and be accessible to everyone, then the client better care. However, do your client’s customers care if you use valid standardized code? No, not at all, and that is the purpose of this post.
An eCommerce website, aptly named the Bulk Baby Bottle Store (BBBS), sells baby bottles in bulk (example) and should not have a button on the bottom that says “VALID XHTML 1.0″ and/or “VALID CSS”. Why? Because the shopper/viewer of that website doesn’t care one iota and all the developer is doing at this point, is bragging, hence it serves no purpose. I can see making your client aware, by linking them to the validator, that you’ve done your job well. I can also see linking to Bobby, so that the handicapped viewer will know that they’re on friendly ground. But what would be the purpose, if any at all, for the client of the BBBS to know that the website they are visiting is valid standardized code? None.
Where should “valid xhtml” and “valid css” appear?
It can be shown on personal websites to display the fact that you’re able to write valid standardized code. Design and development firm’s websites, especially in the portfolio section to show the technologies and languages used to create your clients projects. A good rule to follow, when asking yourself whether you should put a link on the homepage directly to the validator would be, to ask yourself this question: “Does the audience of this tool/site/project care that it’s written in valid standardized code?” A lot of times, you’ll find, that the answer to that question is no.
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