Web standards

Lecture Notes – Web Standards and Checklist – Prepared by Sukh
Sandhu

What are web standards and why should I use them?
Page | 1

1. Introduction
Tim Berners-Lee’s dream for his invention, the World Wide Web, is a
common space where users can share information to work together, to
play, and to socialize (The World Wide Web, A very short personal
history). As web developers, creating business, social, and educational
sites, we turn this dream into reality.
But in this period of tremendous growth, the Web needs guidance to
realize its full potential. Web standards are this guidance. These
standards help ensure that everyone has access to the information we
are providing, and also make web development faster and more
enjoyable.
Standards compliance makes it easier for people with special needs to
use the Web. Blind people may have their computer read web pages to
them. People with poor eyesight may have pages rearranged and
magnified for easier reading. And people using hand-held devices can
browse the Web just as easily as those using high-end workstations.
As we will explain, there are also many practical reasons for developers
to be concerned with web standards. Search engines can do a better job
of indexing sites, for example. Using browser-specific code often
doubles or triples the work to create web pages, and leaves a lot to be
desired when new media are introduced. This situation will only get
worse without the sound direction of web standards.
Some people fear that standards are limiting. In reality, they remove
much of the tedious labour involved in web development, and give
developers more time and more flexibility to be truly creative. They are
both open to future improvement and mindful of past technology.
Many uses of the Web, including some that are only dreamed of today,
will not be possible, or will be more difficult, without widespread
standards compliance. At the moment, there are systems and software
that are very common, seemingly close to universal, but who knows
what tomorrow will bring? Tying ourselves to the control of any single
company means limiting our future to the fortunes and misfortunes

which that one company can or will provide. Maintaining universal
standards will allow the Web to survive while encouraging innovation to
continue at its current pace.
Standards have so much to offer that we at The Web Standards
Page | 2 Project (WaSP) consider it necessary to help you learn more about them.
This document is merely a starting point; it will give you a solid
understanding of what standards exist, why they do, and why you
should care about them. Every time we create a piece of the Web, we
contribute to the common information space that is the Web. We can
build it up, or we can add weight that will tear it apart. The choice
belongs to us; the consequences belong to everyone.

2 What are the standards?
2.1 W3C Standards
2.1.1 What is the W3C?
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international industry
consortium dedicated to “leading the Web to its full potential“. It’s led
by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web. Founded in 1994, the
W3C has more than 450 member organizations –
including Microsoft,America Online (parent company of Netscape
Communications), Apple Inc., Adobe, Sun Microsystems, and a variety
of other hardware and software manufacturers, content providers,
academic institutions, and telecommunications companies. The
Consortium is hosted by three research institutions – MIT in the
US, INRIA in Europe, and Keio University in Japan.
2.1.2 What does it do?
The W3C develops open specifications (de facto standards) to enhance
the interoperability of web-related products. W3C Recommendations
are developed by working groups consisting of Consortium members
and invited experts. Working groups obtain general consensus from
companies and other organizations involved in creating applications for
the Web, and create Working Drafts and Proposed Recommendations.
These are then submitted to the W3C membership and director, for
formal approval as W3C Recommendations. More information regarding
this process and the review stages can be obtained from the W3C
website.
2.1.3 What are the W3C standards?

2.1.3.1 HTML 4.0 – HyperText Markup Language
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is widely used on the Web for
adding structure to text documents. Browsers interpret these
documents, representing the structure in media-specific ways to the
Page | 3 user. For example, visual browsers typically display the strong element
(<strong> … </strong>) as bold text, while text-to-speech readers
might emphasize that text when pronouncing it.
With the help of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) the author may define
how structural elements are to be represented, overriding the browser
defaults.
2.1.3.2 XML 1.0 – Extensible Markup Language
Example of part of an XML document

<addressbook>
<entry>
<name>Bill Gates</name>

<email>bgates@microsoft.com</email>
</entry>
<entry>
<name>Marc Andreesen</name>
<email>marca@netscape.com</email>

</entry>
<entry>
<name>Jon S. von Tetzchner</name>
<email>jon@opera.com</email>
</entry>
</addressbook>

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language like HTML, but
instead of having a single, fixed set of elements, it allows you to define
your own – or use a set made by someone else. It even allows using
multiple sets within a single document – by using XML namespaces.
Some applications of XML, such as XHTML and MathML, have already
become W3C Recommendations. Others are currently W3C Working
Drafts.

Style sheet standards, such as CSS and XSL, offer a variety of options
for specifying how XML elements are to be rendered. Standards-
compliant support for direct rendering of XML is spotty in browsers, so
for presenting information to humans, HTML (or XHTML) with CSS-
Page | 4 driven styling is the way to go. XML is mostly used for machine-to-
machine communication today.
XML is more flexible than HTML, primarily because of the ability to add
your own elements and make your own structural systems. This makes
it an ideal format for the organization of large quantities of data – it is
already in use in many databases and search engines.
2.1.3.3 XHTML 1.0, 1.1, and Modularization
XHTML 1.0 is a reformulation of HTML as an XML application. XHTML
1.0 can be seen as ideologically coming from HTML 4.01, and being
technically stricter because of XML’s influence.
XHTML will display in your browser identically to the equivalent HTML.
You might want to use XHTML if there is any chance you’re going to
need to reprocess your content, for example to send it to a PDA; XML’s
stricter syntax rules make automatic processing of XHTML much easier
and cheaper than ordinary HTML.
Ideologically, XHTML 1.0 inherits the following general concepts from
HTML 4.01:
 That presentation and document formatting should be separated via
style sheets
 That documents should be made accessible
 That documents should be internationalized
XHTML 1.0 also uses the model of three DTDs: Strict, Transitional, and
Frameset. This model originally emerged in HTML 4.0 and followed
through to HTML 4.01.
Some important technical practices from XML onto XHTML includes:
 That all document types are declared via the correct DOCTYPE
declaration
 That the structure of a conforming document contain the DOCTYPE
declaration, an html element with the XHTML namespace declared, a
head element including the title element, and a body element
 That all elements and attribute names are written in lower case, and
that all attribute values are quoted

 That all non-empty elements (e.g. p, li) are properly terminated with a
closing tag
 That all empty elements (e.g. br, hr, img) are properly terminated with a
trailing slash (<br />)
Page | 5  That documents validate against the DTD that is declared
For templates, please see Learn > Templates
XHTML 1.1 is made up of three primary parts:
 The XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD (with minor modifications)
 XHTML Modularization
 The Ruby Annotation
If you’d like to author documents in XHTML 1.1, you can do so in a
couple of ways. The first is by using the public XHTML 1.1 DTD. By
doing this, your work will be extremely structured because there are
virtually no presentational attributes in XHTML 1.1. The separation of
structure and presentation is complete here, and all of your
presentation work will go in a style sheet.
Another means of authoring documents in XHTML 1.1 is to tap into
XHTML Modularization. This is the breakdown of familiar components
of HTML and XHTML (such as text, tables, frames, forms) into discrete
chunks. You can then write your own DTD and use only those
components you require. This is extensibility in action, essentially
giving you, the web author, the opportunity to customize your markup.
The Ruby Annotation is a special means of dealing with certain Asian
character annotations. Ruby falls under the work being done with
Internationalization.
2.1.3.4 CSS – Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a mechanism for changing the
appearance of HTML or XML elements, by assigning styles to element
types, self-defined classes of elements or individual instances.
Stylesheets can be used to consistently define the appearance of an
entire site. Following the introduction of CSS, the W3C recommended
that layout-specific features in HTML be phased out and replaced by
stylesheets, creating a simpler and more structural World Wide Web.
2.1.3.5 DOM 1 – Document Object Model Level 1
The DOM allows the full power and interactivity of a scripting language
(such as ECMAScript, the standardized version of JavaScript) to be
exerted on a web page. (In programming terms, the Document Object

Model (DOM) Level 1 is an Application Programming Interface (API) for
interacting with web pages.) It gives the scripting language easy access
to the structure, content, and presentation of a document which is
written in such languages as HTML and CSS.
Page | 6 The DOM is compatible with future improvements in technology; it will
allow any scripting language to interact with whatever languages are
being used in the document. This standard will not only make it easier
to program dynamic HTML, but will also make adapting to future
Internet technology much less painful.
2.2 ECMA Standards
2.2.1 What is the ECMA?
The European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) is an
organization officially founded in 1961 in order to meet the need for
standardizing computer operational formats, including programming
languages and input/output codes.
The ECMA is based in Geneva, Switzerland, near the headquarters of
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and
theInternational Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In 1994, the
organization’s name was changed to the ECMA – European Association
for Standardizing Information and Communication Systems, in order to
reflect its broader range of activities.
2.2.2 What does it do?
The main role of the ECMA is to develop Standards and Technical
Reports in the area of information and communication technology. As
ECMA is an association of companies and not an official standardization
institute, they often collaborate with official national or international
institutes.
ECMA Standards have been accepted as a base for international and
European standards. So far more than 270 ECMA Standards and 70
Technical Reports have been published.
Of these standards 85 have been accepted as international standards by
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In addition, 25
have been accepted as European standards by the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
2.2.3 What are the ECMA standards?
2.2.3.1 ECMAScript (standardized JavaScript)

ECMAScript is a standardized scripting language, based largely
on Netscape’s JavaScript and Microsoft’s JScript. The ECMAScript
standard is defined by ECMA’s Technical Committee 39 (TC-39).
The main use of ECMAScript, which is an object-based language, is to
Page | 7 manipulate the objects in web pages which are specified by
theDocument Object Model (DOM). These objects (effectively, the
elements which make up web pages, or the web pages as a wholes) can
then be added to, deleted, moved, or have their properties changed.
This lets web developers implement such effects as animated text,
graphic roll-overs, and pages that change based on user input without
having to be reloaded.
The current ECMAScript specification is ECMA Standard ECMA-
262, ECMAScript Language Specification, 2nd edition.
3 What are the advantages of using web standards?
3.1 Accessibility
3.1.1 To software/machines
Complying with web standards can give your web pages greater
visibility in web searches. The structural information present in
compliant documents makes it easy for search engines to access and
evaluate the information in those documents, and they get indexed
more accurately.
Because use of web standards makes it easier for server-side as well as
client-side software to understand the structure of your document,
adding a search engine to your own site becomes easier and gives
better results.
Standards are written so that old browsers will still understand the
basic structure of your documents. Even if they can’t understand the
newest and coolest additions to the standards, they’ll be able to display
the content of your site. The same, of course, applies to robots –
systems that collect information from your site on behalf of search
engines and other indexers.
Compliant code gives you the opportunity of validating your page with
a validation service. Validators process your documents and present
you with a list of errors. This makes finding and correcting errors a lot
easier, and can save you a lot of time.
Compliant documents can easily be converted to other formats, such as
databases or Word documents. This allows for more versatile use of the

information within documents on the World Wide Web, and simplified
migration to new systems – hardware as well as software – including
devices such as TVs and PDAs.
3.1.2 To people
Page | 8 Accessibility is an important idea behind many web standards,
especially HTML.
Not only does this mean allowing the web to be used by people with
disabilities, but also allowing web pages to be understood by people
using browsers other than the usual ones – including voice browsers
that read web pages aloud to people with sight impairments, Braille
browsers that translate text into Braille, hand-held browsers with very
little monitor space, teletext displays, and other unusual output
devices.
As the variety of web access methods increases, adjusting or
duplicating websites to satisfy all needs will become increasingly
difficult (indeed, some say it’s impossible even today). Following
standards is a major step towards solving this problem. Making your
sites standards-compliant will help ensure not only that traditional
browsers, old and new, will all be able to present sites properly, but
also that they will work with unusual browsers and media.
Some consequences of ignoring standards are obvious: the most basic
consequence is that you will restrict access to your site. How much
business sense does it make to limit your audience to only a fraction of
those who wish be a part of it? For a business site, denying access to
even small portions of a target audience can make a big difference to
your profit margin. For an educational site, it makes sense to allow
access not only to affluent, able-bodied school-children with graphical
browsers, but also to children in regions with poorly-developed
infrastructure who are best served by text-only browsing, or disabled
students using specialized browsers.
The same principle applies to all types of websites — while straying
from the standards and taking advantage of browser-specific features
may be tempting, the increased accessibility which comes from
standards-compliance will lead to far greater rewards in the long run.
3.2 Stability
Most web standards are generally designed with forward- and
backward-compatibility in mind — so that data using old versions of

the standards will continue to work in new browsers, and data using
new versions of the standards will “gracefully degrade” to produce an
acceptable result in older browsers.
Because a website may go through several teams of designers during its
Page | 9 lifetime, it is important that those people are able to comprehend the
code and to edit it easily. Web standards offer a set of rules that every
Web developer can follow, understand, and become familiar with: When
one developer designs a site to the standards, another will be able to
pick up where the former left off.
4. Conclusion
As web developers, we are constantly trying to address the problem of
inconsistencies between the renderings of web pages by different
browsers and browser versions. This necessitates either time-
consuming double/multiple coding, or coding for a single browser
which makes it harder, if not impossible, for some of the public to use
the site. This situation will be made even worse with the advent of
additional hardware and software which will be able to browse the Web,
such as telephones, pagers, and PDAs.
Web standards are not arcane laws decreed by ivory-tower
organizations. As we have described, the standards are for the most
part decided by representatives of the same people who use them —
browser makers, web developers, content providers, and other
organizations.
Writing web pages in accordance with the standards shortens site
development time and makes pages easier to maintain. Debugging and
troubleshooting become easier, because the code follows a standard.
No longer do you have to worry about the coding and maintenance for
several versions of code that are supposed to accomplish the same
presentation. One version of your site, and that is it.
The universal adoption of web standards is becoming of paramount
importance. The mission of The Web Standards Project is to make the
Web a better place, for developers and for end-users, by encouraging
browser and web page editor makers to follow the standards in their
applications. This effort will be greatly helped when web
developers use the standards as a matter of course, and insist that
generators and renderers of their code comply with the standards.

The reasons we have given should give you, the web developer, plenty
of incentive to begin using standards, and also plenty of ammunition
with which you can encourage your place of business and fellow
developers to use those standards.
Page | 10 Help make the dream a reality.
Web Standards Project Developer Education Committee: Stephan
Nedregaard (coordinator), Kynn Bartlett, Gail T. Cohen, Jens Edlund,
Nick Finck, Tomas Fjetland, Peter Fleck, Markus Gut, Holger Maier,
Julian Missig, Laura Mollett, Randy Piatt, Lewis A. Shadoff, Juergen
Steinwender, Bart Szyszka, Matthew Thomas, Dane Weber
Updated 02-27-2002 by Molly E. Holzschlag and Shirley E. Kaiser of
WaSP LEARN Committee.

Web standards

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