Web standards

Web standards are the rules and guidelines that help make the internet work for everyone. They are like agreed-upon ways for building and designing websites so they look good and work well on all kinds of devices, from computers to tablets and phones.

These standards are important because they ensure that websites are accessible to all people, including those with disabilities. They also help websites load faster and use less data, which is especially helpful for people in places with slow internet connections.

Following web standards means using best practices that keep websites safe, easy to use, and friendly to everyone. This way, no matter what device or browser someone uses, they can visit a website and have a smooth experience.

Overview

Web standards are rules and guidelines that help make websites work well for everyone. These standards cover many parts of the internet and are important for making sure websites are easy to use and can work on different devices.

Web standards come from groups like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which creates rules for things like HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and image formats. Other groups, such as the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) and Ecma International, also help create standards for technologies like JavaScript. These standards help websites stay up-to-date and work better for all users.

The web standards movement

The web standards movement began with the launch of the Web Standards Project in August 1998. This group worked to improve how websites were built, pushing for better support of web standards in browsers.

The movement promotes creating websites using proper structure and design. This means separating how a page looks from its content, ensuring websites work well for everyone, no matter their device or ability. Before this movement, many websites used complex and heavy methods to make pages look the same in older browsers, which made websites hard to use for people with disabilities and those with slower internet connections. The web standards movement replaced these heavy methods with lighter, simpler ways to build websites, aiming to make the web accessible to all.

Over time, the movement helped convince browser makers to support these standards, and it continues to promote better web design practices. In 2007, Blue Beanie Day was started to celebrate web standards and web accessibility every year on 30 November.

Common usage

When we say a website follows web standards, it usually means the site uses proper building blocks like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The HTML should also be easy for everyone to use and understand meaning. Following all the rules also includes setting things up correctly for letters and symbols, making good news feeds, and using the right formats for data and information.

When people talk about web standards, they often mention important guides from groups like W3C. These guides cover how to build web pages with HTML, XHTML, and SVG, how to style them with CSS, and how to use JavaScript. They also include rules for how web pages talk to each other and how to send and receive information properly. Making websites accessible to everyone is important too, following guidelines from the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative.

Standards publications and bodies

A W3C recommendation is a set of rules that many people agreed on. It is approved by W3C members and the director.

An IETF Internet Standard is a way of doing things that many people think is really good for the internet. When a rule becomes a standard, it gets a number in the IETF STD series but keeps its original IETF RFC number.

Non-standard and vendor-proprietary pressures

HTML 5 includes some special rules that may not follow other guidelines. These rules were added to help make websites work better on older devices and systems.

Web Standards Compliance Testing

There are tests to check if websites follow the rules for building web pages and if web browsers understand those rules correctly.

The W3C provides online tools for both website creators and users. These tools include the Markup Validation Service to check the coding of web pages and the CSS Validation Service to check the styles used on web pages.

The Web Standards Project offers two tests for web browsers, even though its development is no longer active. These are the Acid2 Browser Test and the Acid3 Browser Test.