05-12-2008 Clean up your Code!

When did you last have your website's code written?  

Historically, websites have been constructed using tables which, of course, have their place.  However, the web development industry has moved on and now there's a new and improved way of building websites using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

The benefits of using CSS to build a website are numerous and shouldn't be overlooked.  It could be a mistake to wait until your next major site upgrade to make these changes.  Take a look at these advantages and see for yourself how important it is to clean up your code:

• Potentially Increase your Search Engine Ranking. Table based sites include a lot of redundant code which doesn't actually provide any information to the search engines.  Using CSS removes this code and moves the important information to the top increasing the probability of search engines moving your site up the rankings.
• Reduce Web Development Costs.  By utilising CSS you are reducing the need for duplicating effort on the part of your web development company.  Traditionally they may have had to modify each page to incorporate a design change, where CSS is utilised, one small change to the style sheet can modify the design on every page.
• Improve Site Accessibility.  CSS sites can be read more easily by screen reading software and with increased emphasis on web owners to provide sites that are accessible to users with disabilities, it's an area that can't be ignored.
• Increase Download Speeds.  Browsers can download CSS sites quicker than the more traditional table-based sites.  This removes user impatience and increases the probability of the user drilling down further into your site.
• Reduce Bandwidth.  Getting rid of redundant code reduces the file sizes and, in turn, the bandwidth which means that your site will cope more efficiently with high volume traffic.