Web hosting: buyers beware!
A couple of posts ago, I suggested that people looking for website hosting or Web design might enable JavaScript error checks on their browsers, to check through Web pages in designers’ portfolios. There is something even simpler you can do.
Every HTML page or XHTML page can be validated. Even ASP and PHP pages can be validated, where they produce (X)HTML for display—like this one. You can check if this page is the real thing by clicking on the link in the side bar which says ‘Valid XHTML’. (Click now, if you like—but do come back!)
On most such pages, designers include little yellow buttons supplied by the W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium, which is responsible for standards on the Web).
They look like this (for HTML/XHTML):
Like this for valid CSS:
It is always worth clicking on these buttons. A truly professional designer will always display the clickable version, which allows you to check, immediately. You will be taken to the W3C validator, which will tell you if the page is up to scratch or not. If not, it will tell you the exact ways it has fallen short.
It can be a revelation to click on these buttons. Lazy designers often make changes to pages without checking. The buttons are proudly displayed—but give you instant proof of incompetence. The pages aren’t valid, even though they claim to be.
When they aren’t clickable, it’s time to be doubly suspicious. I noticed just today that one of Web Costa Blanca’s competitors has little buttons asserting their adherence to standards. Like the ones here. But you can’t click on them to check. So I submitted the home page to the validator. You may be surprised at the verdict: Failed validation, 36 errors.
I won’t name the company, but you can find them easily enough if you are looking for hosting or Web design on the Costa Blanca. My own feeling is that people who put up a page with this many errors, which displays the W3C buttons, are not just being unprofessional or lazy. There is a simpler word for it.