Valid HTML and CSS Coding

What is the single most important part of your website?

Answer: The HTML code used to display the pages.

HTML (short for Hypertext Markup Language), is the predominant markup language for the creation of web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document — by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on — and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects. HTML is written in the form of labels (known as tags), surrounded by less-than (<) and greater-than signs (>).

Poorly written code can impact your web site in a number of ways. The most visible problem is that your site may not display properly across a wide range of web browsers, as discussed in the cross-browser compatibility section.

Perhaps more importantly, bad code can reduce your Google PageRank and even limit the amount of traffic to your site due to poor positioning in the search engines.

Standards for HTML coding are developed by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). By following the specifications developed by W3C, you assure a better experience for customers and prospects visiting your web site. You also increase the potential to get your fair share of the free web traffic that is out there looking for your products or services.

You can check your current website using these tools:

HTML Validator CSS Validator