According to this current tally 43.3% of all desktop web users use some version of Internet Explorer to browse the web. Another 46.6% use the Firefox web browser.

Governance for these browsers is provided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which sets the international standard. Browsers that follow these standards do 2 things:

1. They help provide a consistent and more pleasant experience for internet users.
2. Particularly pertinent for this blog, browsers that use W3C standards mean I spend less time testing the websites I develop. This means less billable hours to my clients.

The introduction of Internet Explorer 8 in addition to current versions of Firefox mean I will spend less time programming to fit versions of web browsers that are not W3C standard. Currently at least 30% of my web development time is spent making websites work for browsers that do not follow these standards.

The bottom line: adopting web standards now means a future of reduced website development costs.

With the introduction of Internet Explorer 8, the situation has improved, but keep in mind that Industry changes like these only came about as more and more websites followed web standards.

Demand that your site be standards compliant to ensure that web standards will continue to be adopted and help lower development costs.

When it comes to using Flash on a website, I almost always advocate against it if there are other ways to obtain the same result. Why? Flash hasn’t kept up with the constant pace of innovation on the internet. It is frequently slow to load and most “smart phones” have little or no flash support (see the iPhone). Plus, there is no guarantee that a Flash element will be properly indexed by a search engine like Google, if at all–which means less exposure for your business.

Frankly, there are better ways to achieve the same effect. Check out the “Featured Work” gallery on our home page or our graphic design gallery. These elements were done entirely without using Flash. They also degrade nicely, which means someone with a less capable device, like a mobile phone, will be able to view all of the content.

Flash, however, provides too convenient a solution for many website needs to be ignored. There is currently no better way to add video to a website. Plus, sometimes it’s the simplest way to create dynamic elements like a slideshow or gallery.

A little bit of Flash, used properly, can be impressive. The best way to proceed when Flash becomes necessary is to make sure the site is perfectly functional without it.  A sleek-looking Flash navigation menu will make your site worthless if its not visible to your site users.

Consider also the total web experience of Flash. Adding something like a spinning logo or an animated splash page might be neat the first time, but distracting on subsequent visits.

A good rule of thumb: avoid Flash unless it can add something meaningful to your site’s content.