Why Web professionals should validate to W3C standards.

In early 2009, the web community was asked if they thought there still was a strong motivation for validation. Here are some reasons they mentioned:

Validation as a debugging tool

While most Web browsers do an increasingly good job of parsing even the worst HTML “tag soup”, some errors are not always caught gracefully. Very often, different software on different platforms will not handle errors in a similar fashion, making it extremely difficult to apply style or layout consistently.

Using standard, interoperable markup and stylesheets on the other hand, offers a much greater chance of having one’s page handled consistently across platforms and user-agents. Indeed, most developers creating rich Web applications know that reliable scripting needs the document to be parsed by User-Agents without any unexpected error, and will make sure that their markup and CSS is validated before creating a rich interactive layer.

When surveyed, a large majority of Web professionals will state that validation errors are the first thing they will check whenever they run into a Web styling or scripting bug.

Validation as a future-proof quality check

Checking that a page “displays fine” in several contemporary browsers may be a reasonable insurance that the page will “work” today, but it does not guarantee that it will work tomorrow.

In the past, many authors who relied on the quirks of Netscape 1.1 suddenly found their pages appeared totally blank in Netscape 2.0. Whilst Internet Explorer initially set out to be bug-compatible with Netscape, it too has moved towards standards compliance in later releases.

Validation is one of the simplest ways to check whether a page is built in accordance with Web standards, and provides one of the most reliable guarantees that future Web platforms will handle it as designed.

Validation eases maintenance

It is reasonable to consider that standards such as HTML and CSS are a form of “coding style” which is globally agreed upon. Creating Web pages or applications according to a widely accepted coding style makes them easier to maintain, even if the maintenance and evolution is performed by someone else.

Validation helps teach good practices

Many professionals have been authoring the Web with HTML and CSS for years and know these technologies by heart. Beginners and students, on the other hands, will find automated checking tools invaluable in spotting mistakes. Some teachers also stress that automated validation tests are a good introduction to broader, more complex quality concepts such as accessibility.

Validation is a sign of professionalism

As of today, there is little or no certification for Web professionals, and only a few universities teach Web technologies, leaving most Web-smiths to learn by themselves, with varied success. Seasoned, able professionals will take pride in creating Web content using semantic and well-formed markup, separation of style and content, etc. Validation can then be used as a quick check to determine whether the code is the clean work of a seasoned HTML author, or quickly hacked-together tag soup.

Note: Currently, Central Mass Web Design, Inc. insures W3C validation on all of the websites they release. Furthermore, before release these new websites are reviewed and tested in Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8, Firefox, and Google Chrome.

Thank you to http://validator.w3.org for their contribution to this article.

In recent years  customers have come to expect more from their online browsing experience.   This has caused a change  in the standard for company websites.  A dynamic web site contains content that is continuously updated,  a design that is eye catching and inspiring which will give the consumer  a new online experience with every visit.

Maintaining Dynamic Web Page With Content

Maintaining a web sites content can be time consuming and can cost you money.   However, with our content management systems and Web Maintenance Plans,  even the least technical users have the ability and functionality to maintain dynamic web site content .

Content management systems give you the freedom to create dynamic web page content “in-house” rather than needing a third party.   You will easily be able to :

• Create  content schedules that automatically adds or deletes items.
• Update your events calendar, company news, or job openings.
• Add Pictures to your content to keep your website dynamic in appearance.
• Add dynamic data to all of your pages and keep your website fresh and inviting.

Our content management systems put you in control and give you the ability to maintain a dynamic web site.

Don’t have the time to do it yourself?  Ask us about our Web Maintenance Plan and Search Engine Optimization Plan!  Our trained and experienced staff can do it all for you.   Maintaining a dynamic website through design and data can be very time consuming.  Our staff is experts in many fields and we have created a team that can work to ensure your dynamic website stays attractive to all of your consumers.  Central Mass Web Design has helped many clients to maintain dynamic websites throughout Massachusetts and beyond, including Fitchburg, Leominster, Worcester, Cambridge, and Boston.

Want to view some of our recent works?  Check out our online portfolio to see our many designs, and request a website design estimate today.

With websites becoming a staple for most businesses, the need to seamlessly marry company designs for both web and print become more and more of a priority. In most cases, it is much easier to go from print to web, than vice versa. Typically, hi-res files created for print can be easily translated to lower resolution files that can be used for web. On the other hand, there can be considerable work involved in preparing web based graphics for use in print. It is best when dealing with a graphic designer, that you specify that you would like all your graphics done in a hi-res vector format, and that all bitmap based files such as those created in Photoshop, are created in at least 300 dpi for photos and 1200dpi for any graphics. If you already have files that have been created for the web, they are typically in web resolution of 72dpi. These files can be changed to a hi-res file format through a digitizing process. It is also possible to convert bitmap based graphics to a vector format for use in print, though there can be considerable costs in doing this. One of the important things to remember is that what might appear clear and sharp on your computer, can be fuzzy and or jagged when printed out.

Additionally, you can not always rely on an inkjet printout as a good representation of what your print quality will look like for various reasons. Inkjets use various processes to give the appearance of “photo quality”. Anti-aliasing, edge smoothing, etc. can give you a print out that appears to be good enough for print. The catch is that most offset and digital print processes today provide very high quality output at very high resolutions. In many cases, a client creates a brochure in MS Publisher or similar program, where they’ve pulled graphics, logos and photos from their website, or the internet in general, and then printed out on your inkjet, and thought, wow, this looks pretty good. The problem comes when they decide they want 5000 copies, and that file has to be setup for commercial printing. Because of the high resolution of the output, every low res photo and graphic is going to be very obvious. Summary: The key to ensuring that both your print and web projects look the best they can be, is by designing everything from the beginning in a hi-res file format.

Finally, one last tidbit. Be absolutely sure that you are provided with a complete set of files of all work done for you by your graphic designer. The files are your property, (though some company’s policies on this may vary), it is important to determine the company policy for file ownership up front when choosing a designer, printer, or web company. Ask for your files in hi-res .pdf format, an .eps vector format for graphics, and a .tif or Photoshop file for photos and other bitmap images. Request that you also be provided with all “live” or “native” files along with any support files such as fonts and links. This will make your job much easier when you are asked for these files in the future to put together an ad, a print piece or to do further work on your website.

Mark Smith
Sales and Marketing Manager

(Mr. Smith has almost 30 years of experience in business management, print and media design and production, along with extensive sales and marketing experience.)