For those who have had to previously set up a website before, you know that it can be a daunting process. The content and the look and feel are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ensuring that you use front-end developers who are going to be able to create code that is w3c compliant.

What is w3c?

It might sound like some sort of car lubricant or a character from Star Wars however, for those who are unaware, w3c is the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium. It defines the layout, colours and fonts used in websites which, as you would imagine, is vital in order to ensure that future changes and technological introductions allow sites to continue to function as they should.

For example, should a new web browser be introduced, you would want to ensure that your website could still be seen and function on it as it would on any other browser. By following the w3c compliance, it will ensure that this can happen.

Why Validate?

Firstly what is validation?

If you are starting in the world of coding, it’s important to learn good standards of coding practices and in terms of building websites it’s important to have good standards of HTML/CSS. Some people may argue that it’s unnecessary, but many problems arise when sloppy coding has been used and can be easily fixed by validating your code.

The following websites are an excellent way to test and validate your code: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ or http://www.htmlvalidator.com/htmlval/whyvalidate.html

Also if you want the site to appear on search engines it is vital to have good code. Many search engines can not recognise/catalogue or index a site that has serious HTML errors. Ugly or broken sites turn away visitors and could potential harm your reputation or business.

Properly written HTML will download better, quicker and on more browsers this includes older browser and browsers yet to be developed. Standards compliant sites (web standards proposed by the World wide web consortium – W3C) are becoming increasing more important as it adheres to the coding practices for the use of HTML or XHTML, with Cascading Style sheet (CSS) to define the layout, colours and fonts.

Getting it done right

Of course, if you’re new to putting together websites, all this HTML and w3c can give you one almighty headache, which you don’t really need. Thankfully, the New Media team at Artisan are always on hand to ensure that you get the best advice and, more importantly, the best resources to ensure that your website is created perfectly first time around. If you have an upcoming project, then drop Karen and Charlie a line and try out one of our talented freelancers who’ll make your next project a massive hit.