Best practices in Australian web development
John Allsopp has spent a lot of time taking a close look at how major Australian websites are constructed. The results are presented in The state of the Art in Australian web development.
This is a very long article, but it’s well worth reading. The results aren’t at all surprising to most web standards-aware developers - very few of the tested sites use valid markup. If you would like to comment on the survey, John has posted a blog entry about it: Best Practices in Web Development - results published.
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About the author
Roger Johansson is a Swedish web professional specialising in web standards, accessibility, and usability. More about me and this site.
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Comments
I think the problem is that many Australian people still have no idea about best practices in web development.
If web developers say a website is perfect because it looks good in a certain browser, they need to be educated that there is more than one browser out there, not just Internet Explorer, and everyone does not see a website in exactly the same way as you do.
If educating the masses to help improve the state of Australian web development is difficult, then what does?
Oh, I am from Australia working as a web programmer for a major Australian university. I think blogs like 456 Berea Street does help me stay informed of web standards.
The world is such a small place because of the web isn't it? Look here - an article from a Swede about Aussie Web Standards prcatice...I think I've seen more articles on the web about Australia's web design industry/practices than the majority of European countries that are right on our doorstep...well...in proportion to the UK and Sweden that is (in relation to you, Roger, and I that is).
Sorry - those comments are quite 'off topic'...but I thought it was worth commenting. Roger: Delete at will!! :D
As an Aussie web developer, I tend to agree Martin above. I see so many of my competitors undercut my pricing, and delivering cookie-cutter, table-based designs.
It's hard to sell web standards in a market where clients are quite happy to pay less for a website, as long as it looks the same in all browsers. I know this can be achieved with valid markup/standards, but so many developers I know just don't see the value in learning a new way.
I try to tell them "It's not a new way, it's the right way" but it falls on deaf ears.
Totally agreed. For those like me who attended John's presentation at WE05 knows exactly the lack of understanding in Australian businesses.
But I think its a global problem, as everyone faces the same problem. If Disney UK goes back to non-standards, what basis do we, as developers, have to push new and improved standards? Again adoption within the community is slow and often its too easy for many to revert back to tables-spacer because it works.
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