What are website design standards and its need?
Standards for web design are a set of guidelines published by the World Wide Web Consortium to provide consistency and standardize technologies, which include technical, privacy, and accessibility standards. The World Wide Web (www) is an information system that connects servers, and browsers with a wide variety of users for accessing content. Following these standards leads to the creation of efficient websites. Website standards prioritize the design features instead of code or content in the website. Thus designers can easily work on the designs. The confusions on the design elements to be placed in website can be avoided. New standards are made based on the proposals and issues raised on various web communities.
The Internet has increased the chance of growth in self-taught web developers. Many people have become web developers by learning themselves with the support of various online courses, boot camps, and tutorials. However, there is a challenge of information overwhelm and knowledge gaps. Sometimes technical aspects are important in building something without getting to know the reason to build and other options.
Web standards are crucial in web development as they help the web developer and designers build a fully functional, secure, and accessible website.
Why website design standards are needed?
- The website can be kept accessible to everyone. All features of the World Wide Web are decided based on the web standards.
- Web standards help in meeting the expectations of visitors entering the site. It gives an idea of the “why” and ”what” of the World Wide Web being built.
- Developers could make the source code effortless thus saving development and maintenance time.
- Website SEO will be improved as web standards help search engines easily discover the website.
Types of web standards
Standards can be of various types.
Technical web standards
Web design and usability standards
Web Accessibility Standards
Privacy standards
The website must be compatible with all browsers including older versions to have a stable web experience in any device. It can be made by following technical web standards based on web development languages like HTML5(HyperText Markup Language) for web structure, JavaScript, and CSS for styling the website. XML stores the structured data. The formats used in audiovisual content include JPG, PNG, WebP, and SVG for images and icons, MP3 for audio files, and MP4 format for video files.
Web design standards allow the visual presence to blend with the information given on the website. The below-mentioned practices could improve the user experience.
- Visual consistency is to be maintained for all pages and all elements included in the website, and design is to be adjusted for the target audience to ensure a unified user experience on the website.
- A clear hierarchical structure in the website where headlines and content are placed with the proper size, fonts, and colors. Color highlights are used for elements, buttons, and other important content.
- Rather than using the Contact Us button, try to use calls to action like requesting a quote.
- The logo is placed on the top-left side and the main navigation is at the top of the page.
Web accessibility standards are for the website contents to be accessible and understandable to all kinds of people including the disabled ones. The accessibility guidelines include the following. Images should be provided with alt text. Labels should be given for form fields. Avoid using moving contents and use the best color contrast for the website.
Privacy standards are essential in keeping the website secure. It explains how to collect, use, and manage customer data on a website. This comforts the users and builds trust within them to use the website as their information is securely handled and respect the privacy of users. Legal links related to privacy policy must be given in the last element in the footer in smaller font sizes.
Best user experience can be created in websites following the web design standards.
