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Web Standards are an important part of web design and development. Find out what they are, where they come from and how they could affect your surfing experience.
During the internet boom years creating a website could be a complicated process having to take in to account a number of different browsers that displayed content in subtly different ways. This would involve creating 'browser detection scripts' to redirect users to an HTML page that would present the content being delivered consistently as it was designed. There is also an added layer of complexity. Browsers would differ from computer to computer. A web site that would look as it should on a PC using the Windows 98 version of Internet Explorer could look completely different on an Apple Macintosh using its version of Internet Explorer.
The W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium tries to make the internet useable and accessible by everyone. They promote the usage of standards in internet technologies so that whatever device you are using the internet will work for you. They basically try to create a level playing field for designers and developers.
Since Netscape a key player in the browser wars released the source code for its browser 'Netscape Communicator', the offshoots of the 'open source' development that has occurred since have become ever more important. A number of new browsers have come on to the scene and a court case has forced Microsoft to un-bundle its browser Internet Explorer from the Windows operating system which could perhaps give users more choice in  which browsers they use to surf the web.
With the increase in internet access speeds it has become easier for users to keep their browsers up-to-date or to try out some of the new browsers that are available. Over the last year or so web standards have become increasingly important in web development as they are being taken more seriously by the software developers and as the number of platforms that could potentially use them increase. The same web page could be viewed on a computer, on a phone or on TV. The idea of separating the content of web site from its design plays an important part in the development of the new technologies. This enables a web site to be 're-skinned' giving it a completely new look and feel without changing any of its content or structure.
Web Standards Resources:
The Web Standards Project
World Wide Web Consortium
Browser Resources:
Mozilla - an opensource browser based on the Netscpe source code
Opera -a free (with advertsing) cross platform browser
Safari - Apples browser for Macs only.
Konqueror - a Linux only browser
Netscape - the last version of Netcape released
Microsoft Explorer - the latest version
