When it comes to building a website, there are a lot of elements in place that can help developers make the job a lot simpler. Web development coding standards govern the way that sites and the mechanisms controlling them operate. At ioVista, we want you to get a brief glimpse of these standards so that you can better understand how websites are built and what’s required of them.
Why Do We Have Coding Standards?
When you think about it, if every developer was allowed to program different elements of a website by themselves, the internet wouldn’t work. It would be a vast network of broken links and sites that wouldn’t load, all because nothing is keeping them in check.
Thus, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) came up with some standard conventions regarding various elements of websites that all developers must adhere to. This way, every site you visit will work correctly, regardless of the browser or computer on which you view it.
Without these standards, the internet wouldn’t exist in its current form, and it would be much harder to build a site from scratch. Let’s see how these standards exist on the web.
Common Web Development Standards
Today we’re going to look at the following W3C standards
Let’s see how each one works.
HTML and CSS
If you want to build a website, you first need a basic structure on which to attach everything. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is like the skeleton of your site, as it uses elements like tags and coding to create an outline for all of the various components you’re going to include.
While HTML is crucial, it’s far too complex for most users. That’s where CSS comes in. This programming language allows you to configure visual and aural elements, such as fonts, colors, and your layout.
Working together, these standards enable you to get the inner workings of your site up and running without having to code everything line by line. Currently, the latest versions of these standards are HTML5 and CSS3. XML is another version of HTML, and it offers some more advanced features that build from the original framework.
Javascript
Although pictures and text are essential for any website, sometimes you want to take things a step further and add some programmable options, such as video or animations. Javascript is a system that enables developers to include these elements in their site.
Not only does Javascript allow for various interactive components, but it can help you automate parts of your site (i.e., landing pages). Java is the animation to the still images provided by HTML and CSS.
User Accessibility
Part of what makes the internet such a fundamental aspect of modern life is that everyone can access it. User accessibility is a driving force behind many of these standards, which is why all sites have to adhere to them so that anyone can visit them.
The mission statement offered by the W3C says: “The Web is fundamentally designed to work for all people, whatever their hardware, software, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability.” All developers must respect this idea when creating their work.
International Use
Although each country has different laws governing how the internet can be used and accessed, the standards for development are still the same across international lines.
As part of the accessibility mantra above, many standards help developers create material that will work across the globe.
Audio and Visual Components
For many websites, enhancing the user experience (UX) is as simple as embedding a video or an audio clip. Whether it’s an ad for a business or a piece of entertainment, these elements can make a site much more enjoyable and engaging.
To help ensure that audio and visual components translate well across devices and browsers, many of these standards exist so that the user won’t experience things like lag times and buffering.
Online Privacy
These days, privacy is a hot-button issue. Since it seems like hackers are always a looming threat, it’s never been more vital for web developers to consider how their sites protect the privacy of their users.
Some examples of privacy standards offered by the W3C include:
Do Not Track – this allows users to decide when they want their movements online to be tracked by third parties, such as businesses and other sites (i.e., social media). If a user doesn’t want to be monitored, websites have to enable them to do so.
Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) – all websites have to make their privacy standards accessible to all visitors, and they have to lay out their policies in terms that the average user can understand. This way, there is accountability if something goes wrong.
Contact IoVista Today
If you want to get a high-quality website that will enable your business to thrive, visit us at www.iovista.com. We have all of the tools you need to succeed, so see how we can make these coding standards work for you.
Mike Patel is the Founder and CEO of ioVista, a leading digital commerce agency specializing in eCommerce solutions. With a strong background in business and technology, Mike Patel has been at the forefront of driving digital transformations for businesses. He has successfully navigated the ever-changing landscape of eCommerce, helping companies leverage the power of online platforms to grow their brand, increase revenues, and optimize their digital presence. Under his leadership, ioVista has become a trusted partner with major technology companies: Adobe/Magento, Google, BigCommerce, Shopify, and Yahoo. He is dedicated to staying ahead of industry trends, adopting cutting-edge technologies, and continuously improving strategies to provide clients with a competitive edge. Mike’s commitment to excellence and client satisfaction is evident in every project ioVista undertakes.
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ioVista
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
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