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In the programming world, one of the main differences between professional software developers and the non-professionals is that the pros have been trained and disciplined in developing quality, readable and maintainable software.  Have you heard of the term "spaghetti code"?  Well, this term is derived from the life lesson of eating spaghetti and learning how to use your fork properly in order to create a non-messy spaghetti-eating habit for yourself.  Software developers too have to learn how to create a non-messy programming environment for themselves.  And this is based on standards developed by organizations to promote good programming habits.

Web Standards

In the Web Programming world, international bodies such as the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) have developed standards for programming HTML and CSS.  HTML and CSS both have today evolved  into HTML5 and CSS3.  In addition there is XML, XHTML and DOM.

Why do we care about being standards-compliant?  For starters, both people and machines benefit greatly from standards-compliant software.  Search engines do a better job in parsing your website if it is written in readable HTML and CSS.  Web browsers which evolve as fast as HTML will also be able to display your website properly if it is written according to the standards.  Standards-compliant documents are more portable and convertible to other document formats.

Standards compliance makes it easier for people with special needs to use the Web. Blind people may have their computer read web pages to them. People with poor eyesight may have pages rearranged and magnified for easier reading. And people using hand-held devices can browse the Web just as easily as those using high-end workstations. -- Web Standards Project

What has this got to do with Joomla?

Well, your Joomla!(R) website is written in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Php and mySQL to generate dynamic content in HTML.  In order to ensure that your website complies to the Web standards, it should pass 2 simple tests.  It should be xhtml-compliant as well as CSS-compliant.  The most widely used Web standards today is xhtml 1.0 and CSS 2.1, however, many new and upcoming websites have been written in today's HTML5 and CSS3.  Several Joomla!(R) extensions have been written to comply with CSS3 for design, especially template producers.

A Joomla!(R) website normally supports several individually generated web pages, based upon its content.  Each page can be validated to be xhtml 1.0 compliant.  Each Joomla!(R) extension that is installed and enabled on a Joomla!(R) website affects the content of each individual HTML page.

Be careful that not all Joomla!(R) extensions are written with validation in mind, and thus, will affect the compliance of your website.  Even the basic Joomla! 1.5 Search module (mod_search) that comes with your standard Joomla!(R) 1.5 installation produces an xhtml 1.0 error.

Are your Joomla!(R) templates compliance-safe?

In addition we have found that many popular template producers have trouble making their Joomla!(R) templates standards-compliant as well.  We have done our own research with some of the most popular commercial template producers and have been disappointed.  W3C offers a free validator service that validates your website for its content (HTML) and design (CSS).   We have taken a sampling of the latest commercial (2010) and 2009 templates from various template sources and we have found that they too, have produced errors in xhtml 1.0 compliance and/or CSS2.1 compliance and/or CSS3 compliance.   You too can use the W3C validator service to conduct your own experiments.  Or you can purchase our PDF report (see below to purchase) for immediate download. As a consumer, you should stay informed.

What does a standards-compliant template tell you about the template designer?  An xhtml 1.0 compliant template web page tells you that the template designer has taken the liberty to write proper xhtml-compliant content on its demonstration page.  A good business is one which cares how its content appears in the eyes of search engines.  A CSS compliant template tells you that the template designers really have a grip on CSS and web standards.  They are the true professionals.  Based on our report, you would be able to spot a professional template vendor from another.

For a listing of w3c Joomla!(R) extensions that you can use today, visit our w3c Extensions directory.  For sample w3c Joomla!(R) websites, visit our Templates page and click on the Demo links for each of templates.

Thank you for reading.