More Companies Embracing Web Standards
August 25th, 2003
My hat goes off to the web teams of commercial websites who are embracing web standards and are using div tags and css rather than tables in their design.
Wired News, Fast Company, Inc Magazine, Cingular, Macromedia, Adaptive-Path, Mercedes-Benz, Quark, and ESPN have all dropped html tables for div’s.
In a nutshell, this means that they have dropped support for older browsers which do not support current css standards from the W3C. I’ve talked to people about using this design technique and explained the benefits, but most can’t get over the fact that their website will not display well in Netscape 4. It is dissappointing when people would rather spend more resources supporting a defunct web browser than ensuring their website has a high degree of usability and accessibility in all browsers on all platforms.
Benefits of CSS Design:
- Simplified Markup.
- Separation of content and presentation.
- Increased accessibility. (508/WAI compliance)
- Makes websites accessible in phones, PDAs, and speech browsers.
- Faster download times. (less markup = smaller file sizes)
Drawbacks of CSS Design:
- You have to learn something new.
- While the content will be completely accessible, the design and layout of your site will not be displayed in archaic web browsers.
I’d say the benefits definetely outweigh the drawbacks…if you can even call them drawbacks.