Every good web designer/developer/seo knows that web standards are very important. Standards compliant code fixes most issues – simply because if you do it properly in the first place issues won’t be created. But there is a lot more to it than the w3c validator.

However a lot of people are just plain anal. In my opinion it doesn’t matter to me whether a site has passed the w3c validator and got it’s little “Hey look at me, I’m valid” icon. That doesn’t make it a good site – it just means the codes technically correct.

SEO companies and web design agencies are exploiting this as an absolute requirement. It’s just a fear tactic to create another niche for business. Trouble is you look at their sites and wonder why in gods name they are calling themselves designers. (Now I could dwell on to a whole other topic, “people should have to obtain a license to call themselves a web designer”). These people make me sick – they con people into thinking that they are getting something – when really all they are paying for is something that should have been done in the first place.

Validation and standards shouldn’t restrict the users experience. As designers and developers we should be striving to innovate and create a better user experience. And yes this means that sometimes our sites won’t validate – not because they aren’t built properly. But because we know that there is a lot more to creating an accessible website that not only works properly but also provide a great user experience. And yes validation plays an important part – it’s how we find real errors in our code, and recognise the “errors” that are there for a reason.

Can we please remind the world that Google doesn’t validate? Along with Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, Ebay, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter – does anyone see a trend here?

Anyway I know this post isn’t going to do anything but satisfy my persistent need to yell “shut up!” to all those annoying jobsworths & con merchants.