Re: [Article] Web-Quality v1.1

Howdy everyone,

On Tue, Sep 24, 2002 at 06:28:43AM +0900, Olivier Thereaux wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 20, 2002, Karl Dubost wrote:
> > I would like to add two points, but I need your help.
> > * "Major companies have invalid websites. They don't care about 
> > standards, why I should care?"
> > 
> > * "I'm working in the real world, I'm doing business with real 
> > clients and they don't care about standards, they want something that 
> > works."
> 
> These 2 questions can basically summarized with "nobody cares, why
> should I", and the obvious answer is (crudely said) "you are a sheep".
> Then you can add "the rest of the herd is stupid, stop being a sheep" or
> "the other sheeps are starting to move forward, be a leader among
> sheeps", depending om whom you want to target (happy or unhappy sheeps).

That just gave me visions of companies going 'baaa baaa'. :)

For the first point at least, I have this to say:

Once upon a time, there would have been no standards for 
taps and pipe fittings, but at some point, the industry
must have recognised that they need to standardise the 
need to manufacture pipes, taps and fixtures of the right
sizes so that things would fit everywhere.

The Web is young, so standards are still being established
and are being adopted by pockets of the industry. Technologies
for accessing web sites are gradually changing too, and it 
makes sense to be developing according to standards so that in 
the future, everything can fit alongside everything else at an 
infrastructural level. 

If you don't follow standards, you might find a time whereby
you can't find a tap to replace the broken one in your bathroom
because your pipe is a really weird size.

(I'm no expert on pipes :D One can use a similar metaphor 
with old cars or railroad tracks - once upon a time (I was told)
to travel from Melbourne to Sydney you have to change trains at 
the border because the tracks were different widths in the two 
states so the trains which ran in one couldn't run in the other.)


For the second point, perhaps something like this:

Web designers are professional, are we not? Lawyers are
professional, are they not? If you go to a lawyer, you
expect them to give you the best advice under the
circumstances about what action to take. 

When your customer comes to you with a request, you
are entitled to express that the best action to take 
is to futureproof their website with regards to Web
standards. Your customer has every right to know about 
Web standards because it will effect them in the future, 
and that is more important than just 'something that works'. 
Doing things right this time means they would not have to 
overhaul the current work at a later stage, thus providing
cost savings.

Hope that helps. Feel free to elaborate on my ideas :)

cheers,
-steph

Received on Monday, 23 September 2002 19:46:23 UTC