why web standards?

what is this?

You have been sent here to tell you about some Standards. Standards you say? Yes, standards! The W3C is an organization that devises Standards by which the Web "should" work. Basically, they set up rules or recommendations, that the browser companies try to adhere to as best as possible so that website developers, programmers, and authors can achieve consistent web pages no matter which web browser you are accessing the page with.

so why am i here?

You have been sent here because the browser you were attempting to access the page with, is an older browser that does not support the standards that you need in order to see the page the way it was intended. We felt that you should know this so you understand why the page does not look as nice to you, as it will to others.

what can i do about it?

If you have control over what browser you are using then you have two options. The first option is to do nothing and continue surfing the web, with the knowledge that not every page you come to will look the way it was intended to look. The second thing you can do is to upgrade your browser to the newest one available. To the right is a list of the major browsers available and the operating systems they run on. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all that are available, but merely a few that meet the standards compliance needs necessary to view the page as intended.

standards-compliant browsers

more on web standards