If the likes of Google can get away with it, why can't we?

Finding errors has never been so easy

Let’s take a mix of 3 sites I visit practically daily -  Google (UK), BBC and Amazon (UK). I’m going to test them using the W3C Markup Validation Service.

Google fails, even on its minimalistic homepage – 46 errors on one of the smallest pages (Kilobits wise)  you are likely to ever come across.

Being a bit of a BBC fanboy, I was hoping they wouldn’t let me down. Initially, they didn’t. The landing page had no errors, as shown by the lovely green w3c page that I myself have lately been achieving. Then I delved a bit deeper and looked at a news story.  301 errors were detected, some of them easily avoidable, others seem rather obscure.

Amazon managed an impressive 1418 errors on the page I landed on.

Surely Google has a good reason for this

My first thought about Google was that, with the astronomical amount of traffic they deal with, they may have ignored the w3c standards in order to keep the bandwidth requirements down.

However, I read an article (from 2006) that claimed the opposite. The author claimed he made the file size 21% smaller when rewriting it using an HTML 4.01 DTD.

What do I gain if I do make the effort?

So why do I bother? Well, in the past, I didn’t. I tested everything across multiple browsers and if everything looked just about pixel perfect that was good enough for me – and more than good enough a typical client and even my employers. However, now that I’m displaying my freelance work on a public website, I want to show potential employers that it is something I take seriously. I’d hope that it makes me and my clients look more professional at the same time.

Search engine optimisation is also something I take seriously and I understand that search engine spiders love to crawl through semantically correct, clean markup. As a result, it’s possible a page could appear higher in search results – perhaps more so in the future.

There is also the element of accessibility. I know there is a lot more required to making a site completely accessible for those with disabilities, but I do see it as a step in the right direction.

It also makes my sites easier to maintain. If I made a slight error when hand coding a site and then ran it through the W3C validator, that 1 error is going to stand out like a sore thumb. For many other sites I doubt they would notice their error tally has risen by 1 and so the number could continue to rise. I’ve seen many errors on popular sites that are simple to fix but perhaps they have simply gone unnoticed. One day this error may cause an inconsistency in a browser.

Perhaps it is just a ‘pride thing’

The main reason I do bother though is simply because I take pride in my work and want to do things “right”. I don’t want errors in my code the same way I don’t want spelling/grammatical errors. If somebody runs a validator through my code, which returns no errors, and simply thinks “well at least he decided to bother” – that is good enough for me.

All of the other reasons are perhaps just a bonus, but as time goes on I think conforming to web standards will be much more rewarding.

Cutler Forbes

This is a work in progress (but hopefully you get the idea). Lots of jQuery use to carry out validation and picking dates. This was also the first time I had used CSS to create tableless forms.

Eventually there will be a login section which should enable the client to run their business much more effectively.

The site is currently undergoing a complete SEO overhaul and I hope to get it as high up in search results as I can, in the time available.

D&S Text Services

This project was completed when I was working at BCH Digital in Manchester. D&S were a  firmly established company specialising in running SMS services, but had no brand, no logo and certainly no real website to speak of – obviously that had to change!

I created the logo in Illustrator and came up with a design that shows roughly what they are about in moments, the ‘d’ being a mobile phone and the ‘s’ cut into a sim card. They liked it so much they had it enlarged straight away as a sign, which is proudly displayed outside their offices.

I used the website itself as a bit of a learning tool for the best way to create an eye catching image menu with no loss of SEO or accessibility. This was not a direct requirement but I felt it was time to improve the standard of my websites. Ever since the thought of having an image menu any other way just isn’t cricket.

I also created stationary and business cards using their new brand. Images will be posted soon.

Call Studio

A project I worked on whilst working for BCH Digital for their new web-controlled, telephone recording facility.

After I had created the name, logo and drafted some basic branding, I moved onto creating the website. It is a very simple site explaining why there is a need for recording phone calls and how this product takes care of it. It was used as a product guide to send onto potential clients.

I also designed the user interface for the web application itself.  I will be posting screenshots soon.

Cross Inn Pub

Recently refurbished and transformed into a trendy Gastro pub, the Cross Inn pub located deep in the Cotswold countryside, required a website that promoted its new look.

The website shows before and after snaps of the interior and patio and gives information on the owners with the emphasis on the food being prepared by an experienced chef.

The website also promotes activities happening in the pub, such as skittles, and was eventually going to be developed into something of an online community with leader boards etc. Hopefully one day the content will be produced and I can continue to work on it – until then I shall have do research on pubs in the only way I know how!

I also produced the pub’s stationary and business cards as well as gift vouchers and posters promoting events. Pictures of which will be posted here soon.