Drawar

It's certainly something that isn't well known amongst the average client and I think that's why it's so important to educate them any way you can. The best way to put this in terms they can understand is it makes standards-adhering sites:

• Faster (leaner bandwidth usage)
• More accessible
• Easier to maintain (lower down-the-line development costs)

Remember that lots of designers/developers write to an audience mainly of other designers and developers, so articles (like one of mine) are primarily to educate them.

Showing a passion for what you do by demonstrating advanced knowledge shows potential clients/employers you know what you're talking about - and that can go a long way towards them choosing you over somebody else.

I noticed this the other day as well.

I think a large part of them are just going through the motions at this point. "Web standards" has become a stock line. I think you'll find these on most portfolios, whether the designer really cares about (or understands) them or not:

- Web standards
- Clean
- Usability
- Affordibility
- Efficiency
- etc

It seems like you can't publish a portfolio unless you put these stock lines on it.

I'd say it's for other web designers. If the person has "Valid XHTML/CSS" or mentions specific accessibility guidelines they've surpassed like Section 508 or WAI-WCAG then that's for people who actually know what that is. I agree with Oli and Corky regarding the more high-level explanations, those are things that clients might look for.

I mention it to let my customers know that I care about my work and that I strive to create the best site I can for them.

Can you imagine how happy you'd be if the next site you had to redo was nicely and neatly coded based on web standards.

Most clients don't care about standards, or accessibility. Usability, yes. You can either try to explain their importance which is a very difficult task at times, or simply gloss over that and talk about what they think is important (which will get you the contract.) Then go ahead and do things to standards and accessible anyway.

Most users don't care about standards or accessibility either. People that work on the web, or at least on the net, get it. They know people visit websites with more than ie6, that there are programs crawling pages trying to find out what they mean and how they're related, that some people browse the web without vision, etc. This is when it becomes important. Not to mention that if you're doing something a nonstandard way, it could easily break with the next browser update... then again if you're doing it a standard way it seems equally likely to brake sometimes :)

I agree. There's really no reason to have that information on you portfolio page unless you are trying to impress other designers. It's probably better to mention all your standards stuff in a brief paragraph about yourself somewhere else on the site. It's also probably a good idea to link all the jargon to wikipedia articles or leave it out altogether.

Web Standards age began when Jeffrey Zeldman published his book "Designing with Web Standards", "the book that changed how websites are designed". So I suggest reading it in order to understand WHY web standards are so damn popular.

a lot of people talk about standards in ther portfolios/interviews, just so they sound like they know wtf they are doin. like ozone mentioned standards are really not as important as usability. i mean what difference does it make how fast your site loads, if i can't read it?

People were designing with, bragging about, and arguing about web standards years before that book was published. It's a geek thing. Much like UNIX certification, POSIX compliancy, ISO standards, etc. You could even associate it with engineering. People like their work to be not only functional and elegant, but "correct."

Good question. I actually have clients ask if I write "valid" code...the most recent client I had I asked him why he asked that and he asked it because he's seen it on so many resumes. He had no idea what it was.

I talk about web standards for clients and for prospects, not for other designers. I mention standards not to brag but to be more competitive. It's about why you should choose me kind of thing.

Most clients probably don't know what it means, I think that it looks better on a resume than as a benefit since the reasons that Oli mentioned are more worthwhile to the client than something that they don't know what it means.

That's the point. Clients could be the type who knows and cares about standards or the type who has no idea what it is. If the client is the latter type, it's my way to educate the benefits they can have from it. I agree to what Oli said. Actually I just repeated it ^_^

I think it is because many developers are moving into design now. However not be traditionally trained as a designer, they focus more on the tangible rather than the design services that they are really offering. I believe that it is really more a product of them being unsure as to what their real business model is.

I agree with alivemedia: You should discuss web standards, usability and accessibility with clients because the benefits are numerous (e.g. SEO).

On a personal level it's about pride and making sure clients understand that web design is a skilled profession. I've no interest in doing sloppy work, even if I'm the only one that knows it.

It's web designers talking to other web designers, essentially.

It's web designers talking to other web designers, essentially.

More like web designers copying other web designers.

* new web designer --> "Everyone else seems to be doing it so I guess I'll jump off that bridge too."