If you’re handling a website, you may want to ensure that it meets W3C compliance standards. But what is W3C compliance? What does it mean? In this blog post, we’ll answer these questions and more as we discuss W3C compliance.
World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a major worldwide non-profit organization that develops internet standards. When your website is W3C compliant, it meets the requirements of the web development standards as intended by all of the major browsers, search engines can crawl and index it easily, and people can browse your site easily. The regulations in web development are always evolving.
Importance of W3C Compliance
Using a CMS updated with web development standards ensures that your site is always current and gives users a positive experience. If you don’t have a CMS or utilize one that doesn’t update itself regularly, your website will become incompatible with browsers over time and may stop functioning altogether. While no CMS is flawless, good ones aim to produce as few W3C anomalies as possible.
W3C Standards
The W3C standards set the highest standards in web development. These range from suggested programming languages such as HTML and CSS to widely accepted web architecture and services principles. As far as the W3C is concerned, technologies labeled as standards are, for the most part, the most suitable solutions available for wide deployment.
The W3C standards are not legally binding, and there is no legal penalty for ignoring their recommendations. They’re simply a set of best practices. It may be permissible or even crucial to deviate from the standards to tackle a certain use case.
Importance of W3C Standards
Although they are not required, the W3C standards set a high bar for web development and ensure a fair and accessible online environment. They also function as quality gates for both developers and end-users. Developers may feel at ease using tools that specialists have examined since they know these have been tested. Users will also engage with applications created only with the finest technology, making them more likely to have a good and consistent experience.
Impact of W3C/ADA Compliance on Marketing
All standards set out by the W3C are reviewed for accessibility support by the APA, or Accessible Platform Architectures. Therefore, having a W3C-compliant website helps the user experience in the following ways:
Improves Accessibility for Blind Users
A website that fulfills W3C accessibility requirements allows visually impaired people to use “readers” to access the information on the site.
Improves Accessibility for Search Engine Spiders
If you emphasize site speed, your website will be indexed more quickly by search engine spiders because they are “blind.” Achieving accessibility standards allows search engine spiders to easily crawl your website and index its content. It may improve your position in search results.
Improved User Experience (UX)
W3C-certified websites display greater performance, improving the quality of your customers’ online experience.
Conclusion
To conclude, W3C standards compliance is important for several reasons. It helps ensure everyone can access your content, regardless of ability or location. It acts as a quality filter for developers and end-users alike. It can improve your website’s ranking in search results and the overall quality of your customer’s online experience.
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