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Standards and the W3C Consortium

There is a consortium of the major players - including companies that create web-based features and companies that create browsers - who try to address consistency in web display. The World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, sets rules that browsers should meet to assure all users of optimum experience.

New standards have been developed that promise to yield more consistency and predictability in how websites display. Among other things, the W3C has:

The case for standards

A key advantage of designing to modern standards is that changes can be made to the site very easily, with a minimum of time and effort. This becomes especially important when a site consists of hundreds or thousands of pages.

Further, because these standards anticipate the future, when most browsers will evolve to meet these criteria, the site will not require constant redesign: it will already be in compliance with the next generation of web standards and the browsers that will support them.

Yet another premise of these uniform standards is to make sites more accessible to those with disabilities. The visually-impaired can access a website designed to modern standards, and have a text reader tell them what's on the page. With modern standards, the trend is to put more code off the site in a separate CSS file; hence, the text reader does not have to wade through tons of boring and meaningless code - it can more readily get to the content that is important to the impaired user.

Properly designed, a site that adheres to modern standards is easier for clients to update and change without fear that the visual look will be disturbed.

Finally, modern standards allow more versatility. As more people turn to "unconventional" browsers such as Palm devices and cell phones, pages designed to current standards will give those users a more satisfying experience.

Legacy Browsers

As the W3C developed these standards, most browser developers tried to implement them. But because most browsers originated from very different types of code, it was not always easy for the developers to make each browser fully compliant. At present, there is no single browser that implements every bit of the W3C standards perfectly. Most have little glitches which affect how a page displays or can utterly ruin it, if the designer does not take care to assure the site looks acceptable in common browsers.

To complicate matters, some people still surf with old, outdated browsers. Some may have to use an older browser for a particular reason - maybe a website they rely on only works in a certain old version. Some are required by their companies not to download and install new programs, including newer browsers. Some people have older computers and simply use what they've always used, either because they don't want to change or don't know how.  Among these older browsers (sometimes called Legacy Browsers), about 1-2% of internet users are still using some version of Netscape 4. A handful may still be using Internet Explorer 4 or older. There are still some users that access the internet through Web TV. A web site designed to modern standards may not display correctly in these older browsers.

Thus, a designer must test a site in several browsers - modern and legacy - to make sure the page looks acceptable. In many cases, there is no way to make a page designed to modern standards display correctly in a old browser, in which case there are two choices: either 1) create a separate page, or separate set of pages, that will open if an older browser is detected, or 2) decide that the percentage of legacy-browser users is too small to worry about. Ultimately, this is a decision the client will make, based in part on the statistics pertaining to users of their site.

Most web hosts give the domain owner information on who is visiting the site, and what kind of browsers they are using. The client may wish to review these data and decide whether it is worth the effort, time and expense to design an alternate version for legacy users.

How we test our designs : The Legacy Browser issue

First, Pocono Graphic Design asks the client about the type of users he or she anticipates. Is the theme of the site high tech? Are the users likely to be sophisticated and experienced with the internet, and thus more likely to have installed a newer browser? Or does the site appeal to a wide range of the general public, including that group that still uses legacy browsers. This helps us to decide whether it is important to design with those legacy users in mind from the start.

If need be, Pocono Graphic Design can review the site statistics after the site has been online for awhile to see how many legacy visitors the site is getting. If the number is substantial, we may agree with the client to develop an alternative set of web pages for legacy users. For example, we did this in the Florida SunCoast Orchids site. The home page includes a bit of script known as a "browser sniffer." It determines if the user has a legacy browser, and if so, it immediately sends the user to a different page. That page tells the user that they have an old browser and will not be able to see the site properly; and also gives them several links where they can download and install new browsers free.

Testing in different browsers

Once we have determined our target audience, as the site is developed each page is tested in a variety of browsers, modern and legacy. Pocono Graphic Design's testing includes Internet Explorer 4, 5 and 6; Netscape 4.03, 4.72 and 7; Opera; Enigma; Mozilla; Firefox; and Internet Explorer 5 for Mac. We also view the site for Mac OS X users who use the Mac-only Safari browser.

Testing different resolutions and colors

As computers have evolved, so have their monitors. We've come a long way from the black-screen/green-type era of only 15 years ago. Monitors have been getting gradually larger - few people still use 13" or 14" monitors, and many now have 17" or 19" displays. A large number of users now have flat-panel displays. And graphics cards have also become more complex and feature-rich: it was not that long ago that a color monitor could display only 256 colors. Now most allow millions of colors.

Users can set their browsers to display the way they want - for example, most browsers allow you to change the text size, making it smaller or larger as you prefer. Most users have the ability to display pages at least 800 x 600 pixels (38%), and some 60% display at 1024 x 768 pixels. Because there is still a substantial minority using 800x600, we keep those users in mind when designing pages. Unless there is a specific reason not to, we design to that size to assure that those users do not have to scroll across to see the full width of the page. This enhances the users' experience, and makes for happier customers.

Color-blindness and accessibility

Pocono Graphic Design also tests a website to see how it displays to color-blind users. For those who have no visual color-range limitations, this may not seem important. But what appears beautiful to those blessed with full color range may be almost totally unintelligible to someone with red-green color blindness, and there is no way to know that intuitively. There are many forms of color-blindness, and your website can be tested to see how it displays to people with these impairments.

Testing download speed

We test portions of the site on both DSL and dial-up. As more and more people get access to broadband, dial-up users are on the decline but there are still many who use only this method for internet access.

It is important to get a sense of how fast the page loads for those dial-up users, because surfers are becoming more impatient. Unless they're anticipating some fabulous graphic images, or perhaps a game or program they have sought out, many are unwilling to wait more than 30 seconds for the majority of the page to open up.

Graphics and special features such as Flash movies tend to increase the time it takes for a page to open, and we try to balance the need for visual appeal against the loading time.  Here, too, is another way that modern standards can help: when much of the structural code (as opposed to real content) is "off the page" - that is, contained in a separate style sheet - download times are enhanced because the browser doesn't have to stop to read all the code that the user never sees.

Validation

Finally, Pocono Graphic Design makes the effort to validate our pages. Every web page can be tested for the correctness of its HTML, XHTML and CSS code. We run every page through these validators to assure that any stray errors are addressed before the site becomes live. This helps to assure that the page will display as expected in any modern browser that the user may have.

Sometimes, there may be something on the page that prevents the page from validating in all respects. One of these things may be a Flash movie, because the code for displaying Flash for certain browsers is presently not accepted by the W3C. In such cases, we may decide to overlook the validation error - as long as we know why it has failed, and have made a conscious decision with the client to overlook that.

A word about bells and whistles

Many people love to see interesting, dynamic Flash movies, or scrolling news tickers, changing colors or animated graphics - once. But they can take a long time to download, and a user may quickly lose interest once he or she has seen it the first time. We try to minimize our use of such "gimmicks" in favor of real content that is useful and valuable to the users. And some things like Flash movies are actually counterproductive in terms of search engine optimization.

Some things just look amateurish. I'm sure you've seen the mailbox with the flag that moves up and down, or spinning globes, or dancing gerbils. There are occasions where perhaps one of these animated devices might actually be useful or interesting. But nothing says "non-professional" like a page full of animated graphics.

Take a look at sites like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon or Yahoo and you'll see that they make limited use of animations. Similarly, many of these sophisticated sites do not have Flash movies as the site opener - and those that do generally provide a way for the user to bypass the intro animation.

Sound and music

Music and sounds can be particularly irritating. One of our pet peeves - and an obvious mark of an amateur site - is a page that has loud, annoying music ... and no way to turn it off other than leaving the page. It's a sure way to drive customers away. Business users like nothing less than going to a site and having it play a rousing rendition of "76 Trombones" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - and have no way to shut it off. Music adds a lot to the file size, which means download time is much slower.

Music does not appeal to everyone. Unless there is a valid reason for having music on a page (for instance, if you're a musician trying to sell CDs), music should generally not be used. If it is used, leave it up to your customer to choose to hear it, and to be able to shut it off when they've heard enough. And if you insist on music, make sure it harmonizes with the theme of your site. (I once saw a yoga site designed to inspire calmness and healing, with loud techno-pop in the background. Nothing could have been more inconsistent with the message the site wanted to deliver!)

Pocono Graphic Design strives to provide you with an excellent website that suits your businesses needs, meets the current standards, is easily revised, and gives your users and customers a satisfying experience.