Why Web Standards Matter To You

As the owner of a website, you may not care about the code behind the site—as long as it works. As your designer, however, I care a great deal—you deserve the best, and you won't get it without web-standard code.

By "web-standard code," I mean two things. First, the code adheres to the World Wide Web Consortium's standards. This will help ensure your site is viewable in as many browsers today as possible, and it should continue to be viewable even as browser technology changes. Second, all my sites are designed using both Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In the past, most sites were designed with HTML only, and many of today's designers continue with this outdated practice. The addition of CSS, which allows me to control the design of your site independent of its content, offers several major benefits over HTML-only sites:

Smaller Page Size

Although an HTML+CSS page and an HTML-only page can look exactly the same to you and your visitors, an HTML-only page is typically much larger than an HTML+CSS page. Visitors have to wait longer to view HTML-only pages, and they use up more bandwidth. By controlling the design for an entire site in a single CSS file, I can decrease your visitors' wait times and your bandwidth cost—increasing customer satisfaction and saving you money!

Search Engine Friendly Pages

When your content is separated from your design in the code, it's easier for search engines to "read" your page—and this often means you get higher, more accurate search engine rankings. Who wouldn't want to be more visible to their customers?

Better Cross-Browser Compatibility

Many people design sites so they look good in Internet Explorer and ignore the rest of the browsers out there. By using CSS, I can make your pages look great in more browsers and on more platforms than ever before! And I don't just mean Netscape or Firefox—with the design controlled by CSS, it's possible to make your site look good in non-traditional browsers such as Braille Readers, text readers, cell phones, and more!

More Flexible Design—Now and in the Future

The Internet is a fluid medium, and your business/project will also change in the future. With CSS, your design is controlled by a single sheet—so if you need to update your site's look, you can do so easily, without having to rewrite every single page. Want to change colors in honor of a special event? It can be done in minutes, not weeks! Want to completely redesign your site? Thanks to CSS, it will take considerably less time than it would with an HTML-only site!

It's your time and money—and my commitment to web-standard design will help you get the most out of it! Contact Another Muse Design today!