The web, like any new medium, is an ever-changing platform. We see these changes in technology advancements in the code behind the page as well as in the applications we use to access the code. This is true today more so than even a few years ago, and for many reasons: increased competition, evolving thoughts on human/computer interfaces, greater access to broadband and high-end processing power, etc.

At the same time, the increasing variety of tools that end users use to access the web is forcing professional designers and developers to rethink accepted norms. We are having to evolve to accommodate and make rich content accessible to multiple platforms, browsers and gadgets. That said, it's not very realistic to think that anyone other than professionals who have worked through the evolution of the web and are current on the topic can make good decisions on how to design and build a website that is up to today’s standards. This is very important because anything other than today’s technology may be obsolete tomorrow and therefore may be a bad investment by most standards.

There are so many factors that must be considered to make good decisions about the future of your business on the web, and each is going to be quite different, and largely based on the business itself. Fortunately, there is one major advancement that can help decision-makers ensure a successful online presence. . Unfortunately, not a lot of companies building sites today have embraced it, which is strange considering it is designed to make our lives easier in many ways.

So what is it? In a nutshell it's the separation of style and content on the web. If that sounds like vague “agency speak” to you, try thinking of it this way: For the average user surfing the web there are basically two things that make up a website. There's the design or graphics that comprise the style or presentation of the site—colors, lines, proportions. And then there is the content of the site itself: the words, information graphics, bar charts, etc. Again, the use of graphics for the layout and interface are what make up the "style" and the information within is the "content." You with me?

For the longest time these two elements, in terms of code or what makes up a website, have been too tightly integrated. As a result, many sites are built on messy code. Which may not sound like a major issue, but the consequences of bloated, disorganized code can be very deleterious from the business standpoint. These kinds of sites are very unfriendly to search engines and they can look drastically different when viewed in certain browsers—not good for your brand. Search is a major factor on the web today and separating your content it presentational markup is the best way to improve this factor from a design and development standpoint. Clean code and pure content go a long way with search engines! What’s more, poorly designed sites often download slow, and because the underlying code is so bulky, simple edits and updates require much more time and work.

There is a better way. Thanks to the World Wide Web Consortiums (W3C) efforts to set uniform standards for the design and construction of web pages, along with advances in cascading style sheets (CSS), designers now have the ability to effectively separate style from content and make the web more accessible, more search friendly, faster, more usable and cross browser / gadget friendly. This inevitably means that designers and developers alike have something new they have to learn and embrace to maintain their existence in the market. Some have already done so. Others, unfortunately, are hoping W3C goes away, or have yet to even acknowledge the changes that are fundamentally shifting the web design industry. The fact is that it's real, it's a good thing that will make our lives as designers and developers easier in the long run, and it is certainly better for the consumers, our clients.

Some go as far as to say that those who do not embrace the changes enacted by W3C will be left behind as consumers become aware of this shift. I agree with that, and from either side of the coin see no reason why as a designer you would not embrace it and as a consumer you would not demand it. That said, we at colossal have already embraced W3C and are excited to educate and bring our existing and new clients on board.

Join us in our quest for a better, faster, scalable, accessible and more search friendly web!