How important is it to follow web standards? [closed]

Question

I recently found out that most of the major websites fail W3C's markup and CSS validation tests. Therefore, how important is it really to follow web standards?

Answer 1

STANDARDS!

A Bit of History

Before going straight to the answer, I believe it is important to state the context of the latest standard.

Did you know that the W3C had been trying to develop a XHTML 2 standard? If it would have came out it wouldn't be backward compatible with previous versions of HTML. In fact, a rebellion formed within the W3C and ended with a group that simply part ways to create the WHATWG. The WHATWG are the real master minds behind HTML5.

Have you ever ask yourself why it takes so much time to get standards from the WC3? The way WC3 works is very democratic. They discuss everything until everyone accepts. The WHATWG does this with a little twist: issues are raised and discussed, but the final word rests with the editor. To quote Jeremy Keith: "While HTML5 was being developed at the WHATWG, the W3C continued working on XHTML 2. It would be inaccurate to say it was going nowhere fast. It was going nowhere very, very slowly."

It ended up with the W3C dropping XHTML 2 and instead of going from scratch they took the decision to work with the WHATWG, after all.

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The Return of Spaghetti Markup?

While HTML5 is no longer strict like XHTML, it does not mean that there are no longer good coding practices. HTML5 is not machiavellian. Unlike XHTML 2, it builds upon existing specs (supports existing content).

Above all, the arbiters behind the specs are the different browser vendors. Have you ever seen proprietary CSS elements with webkit (Safari, Chrome), moz (Firefox) or o (Opera)? This is actually normal to have because that means the vendors are working forward on upcoming specs and sometimes on functionalities that are out of the specs. For a while, Microsoft had the mentality of being above standards because they had the monopoly on the browser shares and created their own CSS elements. Microsoft created CSS elements such as filter and yet we find something peculiar. There are two recommandations for the specs which are two different ways of playing with opacity in CSS: RGBA in the color element and the opacity element.

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The Importance of Standards

To finish, I would say that web designers/developers have a big responsibility to stay up to date with what is going on in terms of technology and standards such as HTML5. That doesn't mean to read every single spec out there. I agree that this would be long and boring. Actually, read books on the subject, follow the browser vendor's dev blogs and have fun from time to time by trying stuff out. I no longer agree with following 100% of all the web standards because there will always be exceptions. I prefer using good coding practices that will help developers, but that will at the same time be browser friendly. It is important to understand that HTML5 builds upon existing standards and it is made to support existing content.

One last opinion: http://dowebsitesneedtobeexperiencedexactlythesameineverybrowser.com/

Answer 2

It depends upon the size of your audience. If it's for your blog, you can be pretty sloppy. I've done government websites, however, where it was critically important that we follow web standards and follow accessibility guidelines.

But yeah, just do it. Why wouldn't you?