Does Anyone Follow Web Development Guidelines Anymore?
Does anyone follow web development guidelines anymore? The short answer is mostly large organizations and government departments. I spend a great deal of time conducting Internet searches every week, and I have observed that general industry web development guidelines and standards are rarely followed when websites are developed. Nowadays websites seem to be designed like word documents rather than web pages, the most basic guidelines are often ignored. The other day I chatted with someone on a popular social media chanel, this person mentioned that it’s getting harder to even find a company’s contact number on today’s websites.
I strongly believe that the root cause of the problem is the widespread belief that web development is easy and anyone with little or no formal training can create a website. The development and popularity of do-it yourself website builders has helped to perpetuate this myth. Thanks to today’s technology almost anyone can create a website. However, good and effective web development can only be achieved by following well-established web development guidelines.
When I started creating websites over 25 years ago, web development was very simple but you still had to learn had to do it properly. Fast forward the clock and web development has become incredibly complex; for example, there are now several programming languages, CMS’s, and SEO.
Meanwhile, what about web accessibility guidelines? Well, here is where the issue worsens. Web accessibility is primarily practiced by the public sector, as it is at the forefront of it. In contrast, in the private sector is virtually unknown. Web accessibility can be challenging to implement, but it’s the right thing to do and it’s the future of web development. At Edu Net Solutions, web development guidelines and in particular web accessibility play a central role on all our schools and business websites. Great things to come soon!