It’s a common process for most of the UI Developer to create an HTML page and validates it with w3c validator, if it is passed then it’s done they are creating the standards compliant web page. It’s good to adhere with the standards defined by a community whose mission is to lead the web to its full potential. But it’s better to be practical and realistic take your design to next level.

What is w3c and how it defines the standards.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a community which develops the web standards. Its mission is to lead the web to its full potential. Its role is primarily as standards body not an innovation body. Its job is to standardize the patterns of existing technologies. In general, if we talk about a standards body which define the standards then the implementation comes, but in the case of W3C it’s opposite. Implementation comes before a standard is defined. That’s why we can use CSS3 properties though it is not standardize.

Know your audience and be realistic

Does your audience (users) know what w3c is? Whether the web page they are browsing is standard compliant or not?  Probably not, then why should we afraid of using the new technologies perhaps just to make a web page and CSS w3c validated? may be yes, but validation is a tool, not a religion.

Use the latest technology but don’t ignore the old browsers

Main hurdle to use new technology is the old browsers like IE6 outdated but still widely used; most of the sites get hits from IE but not all, as most of tech sites get fewer hits in IE then general sites. So, its good to know your audience and work accordingly but do not ignore any older browser like IE6 as IE6 is still used by more than 40% users. Though even Google has removed its support for IE6 but still the content is readable. So, the better approach is to don’t try to make a site look the same in every browser if a user has less capable browser they won’t see a shadow, they won’t see rounded curve. Does it make any difference? No… A designer focus should be on designing experiences from the best browsers down, instead of on hacks and workarounds to make its website look the same in every browser.

Conclusion

Follow the standards but think as the user and take your design to next level, web browsers have difference capability so, website can’t look same in all the browsers. There are thousands of browsers and no two have identical implementation. Web sites need not to look same in all the browsers. Browser’s capabilities are a browser maker’s business, not a web designer’s.