Nobody likes being ripped off – especially if they’re in business.
Yet most businesses are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to their web designer for shoddy, substandard work. Are you
Luckily, there’s a quick and easy way to find out.
Go tohttpvalidator.w3.org, type in your website address and click on the Check button.
If the page you see says failed validation in red writing, you might need to speak to your web designer – especially if there are more than a handful of errors.
Is your web designer one of the cowboys
Unless you own a cattle ranch, you probably don’t want to employ cowboys. You certainly wouldn’t put up with substandard work from a builder or electrician, would you What about an accountant that didn’t understand tax laws, would you want them handing your finances
Well, most web designers produce websites that are shoddy and substandard – and worst of all they don’t even know it.
How can I tell if my site isn’t up to standard
Many professions and industries have standards. With some professions, like medicine or law, you need a qualification before you even start doing it. Other industries, like food processing or construction, aren’t so strict about academic qualifications, but they do have standards that have to be met – like health and safety or food hygiene standards.
There’s no academic qualification you need in order to become a web designer. All you need is a computer with internet access and the confidence (or in some cases arrogance) to call yourself a web designer.
Should web designers use Web Standards?
Yes.
To put it bluntly, if you don’t know web standards, you’re really not entitled to call yourself a “professional” web designer.
There are some occasions when it’s acceptable to use non Web Standards techniques for practical reasons, but it has to be an informed decision.
How many web designers program websites the wrong way?
Unfortunately, most web designers program websites the wrong way. The sad thing is that many of them don’t even know about Web Standards.
There are plenty of web designers that do use Web Standards, but they’re in a minority.
Because there are no entry barriers to web design, anybody can set up as a web designer. That means there’s plenty of choice but it also means there are plenty of cowboys producing badly-programmed websites.
What do I do if my website hasn’t been created using Web Standards?
Well, you’ve got a couple of choices.
Firstly, you could contact the web designer that created your site and ask them why they didn’t produce your site with Web Standards.
If your site is more than 1 or 2 years old it isn’t reasonable to expect your site to have been created with Web Standards, as they weren’t a well-known technique then.
You might find that your web designer now uses Web Standards and would be able to redesign your website so that it uses them.
They may be willing to do this for free, as a courtesy, or they may charge you for this.
Can’t I just sue them?
I’m not a lawyer and couldn’t offer legal advice.
However, I suspect that unless you have a written contract with your web designer specifying that the site should be built using Web Standards techniques you would find a legal route difficult.
Tags: academic qualification, academic qualifications, cattle ranch, check button, food hygiene, hygiene standards, professional web designer, program websites, web designers, web standards