Designing For Maximum Compatibility
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When building a new web site, or redesigning an existing web site, it is important to design your site for maximum compatibility. You want your new web site to be compatible not only with web browsers on computers, but also on devices such as cell phones or PDA’s. Furthermore, you want to build your site in a way to maximize its compatibility with future devices and technologies.
Standards Based Design
Organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develop web standards and guidelines to ensure the long-term growth and compatibility of the web. A good rule of thumb is that if you build your web site following these standards and recommendations, you will be in good shape.
XHTML
XHTML is basically a cleaned up version of regular HTML, that cleans up all the little things that can cause problems with compatibility. With XHTML, all the tags have a well defined structure that is understood by web browsers and other devices. It is an improvement over regular HTML, which had a much looser structure that could lead to ambiguities or errors. So when you build a new web site, make sure that it is XHTML compatible and check it against an XHTML validator.
CSS Layout
Another common recommendation is that you design your web site using CSS based layout, rather than an HTML table-based layout. The basic advantage of CSS based layouts is that the content of your web site is distinct from the layout of your web site. This makes it really easy to change the layout of your site, without having to change your content. For example, you can have one CSS layout that shows your web site on web browsers. Then you can have a different CSS layout that is optimized for cell phones. Just by changing the CSS layout, you can change how your web site is displayed, without having to change your web pages. This makes it really easy to customize the layout of your web site for specific devices.
Another advantage of CSS based layouts is that they are much more search engine friendly. Search engines can easily read your site because your content is logically organized, and separate from the structure of your web site.
Web Accessibility
Web accessibility guidelines have been created to help those with disabilities to be better able to view or read web sites. These guidelines are also referred to as Section 508 guidelines, after the law that requires federal agencies to make their web sites accessible to those with disabilities. Obviously, it is good practice to make your own web site as accessible as possible.
XML
XML refers to eXtensible Markup Language and it is basically a way to exchange data between different systems. On the web, XML is a common way to store data or to exchange data with other web sites. If your web site needs any kind of data transfer, then XML is a good technology to use.
Open Source
Open source refers to software or other technologies that are openly developed and shared by developers. Most open source is free to use, and is maintained by expert developers in a collaborative, cooperative development cycle. This is opposed to proprietary software, which is often developed by a single company, and all the code is private and secret. Many consider open source software to be advantageous since it is not controlled by a single company, does not have large costs or license fees, is not profit-driven, and is continuously being updated for improvements by a community of developers.
Conclusion
When developing your web site, be sure to use the recommended standards and best practices guidelines to ensure your site is compatible with current and future technologies. Make sure your web developer is familiar with these standards and uses them to build your web site.
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