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Currently, a large number of web designers are only designing with Internet Explorer in mind, which does not compare with the W3C standards of Mozilla based browsers, and Safari or Opera. What many web designers don't realize is that a website that looks perfect in Internet Explorer could look like a disaster in a non Internet Explorer based browser.
Microsoft finally addressed this problem with the release of Internet Explorer 7, with which they made an effort to increase Internet Explorer's compliance with W3C standards and increased CSS capability. This means that Web pages that looked fine in Internet Explorer 6 might have the same viewing issues that Mozilla web sites had before.
For webmasters who were not incorporating W3C standards in the design of their web sites, Internet Explorer 7 was a rude shock. This update forced a lot of them to redesign their pages in a more W3C compliant matter.
How should a web designer go about dealing with this? The ideal way is to design your website for the strict W3C compliant browser Firefox first. Firefox is the main competitor to Internet Explorer, and is also unlikely to be knocked out of competition like Netscape was with a number of bad choices and business deals.
Many websites are not 100% W3c standards compliant, and they don't have to be. W3C standards are a guideline, not a strictly enforced code. Designers will use CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, in combination with W3C complaint HTML for a web page that is flexible, easily update and maintained, and has countless design possibilities. Utilizing both in a design should be attempted by every web designer.
CSS might seem intimidating but in the end, it's much simpler than a traditional table-based design. However, once you learn the basics, it's easy to use CSS to the full extent, and many programs that aid you in web design contain modules that will generate CSS code for you. You can then study these and learn to edit and even write them on your own. A number of plug ins, or extensions, available for Firefox can even remove the need for a number of standalone programs.
After you design your web page, you should use a Markup Validation Service to ensure that your web page meets the W3C standards. Any errors will be marked for you and the program will make suggestions on how to fix them. You should also keep in mind that a number of codes that used to be necessary in pre-standard days are now completely obsolete. If you ignore these errors noted by the Markup Validation Service, it may cause your page to render and display incorrectly.
Usually, web pages cannot achieve 100% validation. In these cases you want to add a Document Type Definition on your page so as to instruct the user’s browser on which specifications your page used and how it should be rendered. A complete list of these can be located at the W3C compliance website.
Even if your website is rendering properly in Firefox, you should make the effort to check the W3C compliances. Making small adjustments and keeping your website compliant now will more than likely prevent the necessity of a total overhaul in the future, which in turn will save web designers time, money, and prevent headaches.
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