Benefits of XHTML and CSS

[roboffer]

Right Im putting together a little propsal for work, that we are passing on to a client on the benefits of XHTML and CSS. Thought I'd post here for people to add anything if Ive missed it - but also as a bit of info for people either for future use in a similar scenario or just for something to read.

XHTML (Extensible HyperText Mark-up Language)

- Restores the structural integrity of documents that was lost during the web’s rapid commercial expansion.
- Provides ease of transportation to future platforms including wireless devices such as PDAs and mobile phones.
- Ensures clean, rule based mark-up increasing compatibility with all traditional and specialist browsers, such as those developed for users with disabilities.


CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
- Separates presentation from content to increase the content to mark-up ratio, meaning pages more pertinent with regard to search terms. This allows for higher-ranking search results.
- Provide more compact code (up to 50%) meaning quicker loading times and reduced bandwidth.
- One CSS file can be applied to a set of pages or a whole site, providing quicker maintenance of the overall site if design changes are required.
- Provide multiple copies of the same page or site quickly, allowing one version for screen, one for print and one for text only users. Users will accessibility problems can be provided with a larger text version of a page or whole site.
- Well-formed CSS code significantly reduces rendering differences in various browsers.
- Older browsers will ignore unsupported CSS properties proving backward compatibility.
- CSS provides valid, standards-compliant mark-up provides greater future compatibility.
- Relative measurements ensure styled documents fit varying resolutions of monitors.

 

[Ed]

Why your business benefits from adhering to the web standards

Web standards are created to give benefits to the developer and the visitor. As a business, your website must be accessible, usable, attractive and convey a message of trust and professionalism. Getting this right can be both expensive and difficult if done outside of the W3 standards.

Let's look at the main benefits of web standards.

Accessibility

Valid XHTML and CSS will ensure that a site is constructed in a way that seperates the content from presentation. There are huge business gains to be had from this method such as less maintenance, more control, lower costs etc., but importantly, accessible content. Not everyone uses a common browser to access the web and a valid site will mean your information will have the widest potential audience.

Usability

Semantic markup creates a usable website. We have all seen cluttered sites with no per-page focus, navigation that leads you into the abyss and forces URL amendments as well as document structure that makes a web page unreadable and hard to follow. You have a point to make. Every page has a focus and the content is clear. Web standards will ensure that people get to the point of your site, quickly and effortlessly.

Compatibility

We are in the 21st century and there are now a wider range of platforms, devices and browsers than ever before. More and more people are accessing the internet and due to this diversity, building a website by following guidelines is the only way to ensure uniformity.

Substantially increased performance

By removing formatting from the markup, you can reduce the file sizes of your website which means people with slower connections or users from around the globe have a better browsing experience. Using tables for layout can sometimes treble the file sizes as positioning requires attributes to table cells and occasionally invisble images forcing layouts to look "correct". CSS can acheive this and more from a light weight text file that when cached, will not need reloading further increasing performance.

Higher search engine rankings

Not only will a user struggle to navigate an unusable and invalid site, so will a search engines spider. If your documents are marked up correctly and fast to load then a search engine will reward your web pages with better listings. Why serve a user a scruffy and hard to read web page when a perfectly readable and accessible page exists?

Powerful designs

CSS is an extremely flexible and powerful way of styling a website. All the formatting is contained within one text file meaning a new design overhaul is very cost effective and fast to turn around from a designers point of view, meaning lower costs to the business. If done correctly, CSS can degrade gracefully in older browsers which lack support into a perfectly readable document which is the beauty of following the web standards.

Lower business costs

A website following the web standards is a more efficient and smaller website in terms of file sizes and bandwidth. This translates into reduced hosting costs. Changing contractors can be a problem if the code is written with proprietary software that creates untidy or browser specific HTML. Following a set of standards means contractors can hit the ground running and give you far better value for money.

 

[roboffer]

Cheers bud, ill have a glance over that, as I know you spend a lot of time doing this kind of stuff.

 

[robmiller]

Originally posted by spinneR~uk

That was great, some good fuel for battle against the "what's wrong with tables for layout" crowd

 

[Augmented]

Top posts , however I do have some thoughts.

Originally posted by roboffer
- Restores the structural integrity of documents that was lost during the web’s rapid commercial expansion.
[...]
- Ensures clean, rule based mark-up increasing compatibility with all traditional and specialist browsers, such as those developed for users with disabilities.

I would like to put forward that these (and a lot of pro-XHTML statements) aren't truely something that can be used to back adoption of XHTML over HTML. HTML can provide all these things, it's more the case that by reformulating it, with the rules of XHTML, it forces (he says tentatively) well-formed markup. It's not the fault of HTML that structural integrity was lost, it's the fault of the authors, the so-called 'designers'. I would go further to say that the use of XHTML decreases compatibility over using HTML, which all user-agents understand (well, they should!) whereas the same can't be said for XHTML.

Some arguments are put forward that adopting XHTML at this point is a bad idea, as there's little proper support for it, and little need for it. People are using it because it's the new thing without really appreciating the underlying concepts - it's a cut'n'paste effect.

So, I think it's more prudent to push for the adoption of standards (clean, semantic code etc.), rather than specifically authoring in XHTML. I know it's ultimately quibbling over semantics, but for the most part there's no pressing need for a website to be XHTML over HTML. And it would be closer to the ethos of standards compliance to author in HTML as software support stands now.

I don't necessarily agree with this, they're issues I've come across in my travels. I agree with the adoption for future proofing and so on. But I can see the argument that we could just end up in exactly the same position we are in now, except that the pages have XHTML doctypes instead.

Using XHTML != better code and it != standards compliancy.

 

[Ed]

I do agree that the use for XHTML is often misunderstood. As more and more XML tools become mainstream there will be a need for XHTML documents to populate the web. MathML, SMIL, or SVG also require XHTML and when everyone is using XForms there will be no alternative. HTML4 is by far the widest accepted format as we speak.

I'm sure the W3 could accelerate away with more and more incredible ways of integrating information into our lives, in whatever format technology evolves to, if only the user agents could keep up with support which currently is the battle with compliance.

HTML/CSS does as good a job as XHTML/CSS as far as display goes but most current user agents can deal with XHTML one way or another and it's good practice to take on a stricter, future orientated, application format.

One day we'll see "error: line 351. Unknown element: <hr>" - That will keep the AdMart cowboy web designers out the industry.

 

[zetec452]

Originally posted by spinneR~uk

I get the feeling that you have used that on other occasions.

A good read though.

 

[roboffer]

Re: Re: Benefits of XHTML and CSS

Originally posted by Augmented

I agree 100%, to be honest those I know those points arent valid they have just been cut and pasted from my document. The process we are going through is persuading a client to redevelop a site my predecessor built (it really is hideous) and Im taking advantage of their lack on technical expertise, if you get my meaning.

Cant turn round to a client and say "We built you a crap site, want us to redo it as we have sacked the goons"

 

[zetec452]

Re: Re: Re: Benefits of XHTML and CSS

Originally posted by roboffer


Cant turn round to a client and say "We built you a crap site, want us to redo it as we have sacked the goons"

Whats wrong with doing that:

 

[Ed]

Originally posted by JonRohan
I get the feeling that you have used that on other occasions.

It's from my site

 

[zetec452]

Originally posted by spinneR~uk
It's from my site

Well that would be why. Do you also specialise in web accessibility?

 

[Ed]

Originally posted by JonRohan
Well that would be why. Do you also specialise in web accessibility?

I'm currently working with a group of people with learning difficulties and some of the accessibility problems they face the W3 cannot help with as they require strong colours and visual prompts which the W3 are trying to turn into text. A lot of the time, sensory impairment is deemed the primary accessibility problem but many others exist and most have some conflicting issue with the published standards.

 

[zetec452]

Originally posted by spinneR~uk
I'm currently working with a group of people with learning difficulties and some of the accessibility problems they face the W3 cannot help with as they require strong colours and visual prompts which the W3 are trying to turn into text. A lot of the time, sensory impairment is deemed the primary accessibility problem but many others exist and most have some conflicting issue with the published standards.

A no win situation perhaps? Or do you think eventually all forms of accessibility will be accommodated within some form of standard?

 

[Ed]

Originally posted by JonRohan
do you think eventually all forms of accessibility will be accommodated within some form of standard?

I do yes. XML and subsets of will eventually deliver information to any device by way of the standards. As we use a screen to see the content, displayed via CSS/XSL or whatever, others will use tools pertinent to their needs and requirements whatever they may be. A single standard, a single source of information, a million ways to represent that to any user.

 

[zetec452]

Looks like you'll have a job for life .

 

[Deleted member 11679]

This may contain a lot of stuff already mentioned but I used this page for reference to something I did in one of my University reports.

http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/xhtml_html.asp