Web Standards:
Sad but true: Most, perhaps as much as 99%, of today's Web sites use invalid code, that is, their Web pages do not conform to the HTML and XHTML specifications published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organization responsible for setting standards for Web technologies.
Contributing to the pervasiveness of invalid code are instructional books on HTML and Web design that teach invalid coding style, popular Web site authoring tools that generate invalid code by default, and Web developers who are unaware of the actual standards.
Doubtful? See for yourself:
Use the W3C's validation serviceon any website of your choice.
Enter the address:
50% Code Waste:
That Web pages with invalid code are visible at all is only because the major Web browsers currently devote as much as half of their programs to working around defective code. The overly-forgiving browsers encourage Web developers to use sloppy coding that could never be tolerated in any other programming field. The upshot is that most Web sites are in desparate need of overhaul to bring them into standards compliance and so extend their usefulness for the future.
Dragging our heels:
Adherence to standards is vital for the continued development of the World Wide Web. Among browser makers there is now broad acceptance of the need for adherence to standards, but the Web development community, long accustomed to prior chaotic conditions and proprietary coding, hampered by a lack of standards-based tools and instruction, and freighted by the enertia of habit, lags behind.
The use of invalid code is a dead end that wastes time and resources. The use of bad code creates pages that waste bandwidth and storage space, download and render more slowly, are difficult to modify, limited in function, and destined for complete obsolescence.
Better is better:
If it's done right today, it won't need fixing tomorrow. Compliance with Web standards reduces costs, prevents obsolescence, and prepares the way for future change and innovation.
For further reading see the W3C Quality Assurance section, generally, and the April 8, 2002 W3C Quality Assurance article My Web site is standard! And yours?