Web Standards

Downside

• Writing XHTML documents requires more discipline and attention to detail than HTML, but it's still easy.
• Browser support for CSS is imperfect. Some workarounds might be required.
• Some techniques that are easy to achieve with HTML tables are hard (or impossible) to pull off using CSS layout. Some designs might need to be rethought.
• It's a hard sell to site owners, designers, developers.
  • Site owners can view their sites as an extension of print advertising that must look exactly the same in all environments.
  • Designers want to comply with their creative visions, not with a complex set of technological rules.
  • Some mistake "web standards" for an imposed and arbitrary set of design rules.
  • Many web professionals—designers and developers as well as their clients and employers—know quite a lot about proprietary solutions and quite a bit less about web standards