The business case for web standards – call for wiki participation
I was rather shocked to go to “Refresh Edinburgh”:http://refreshedinburgh.org/ and witness that the planned presentation ââ¬ÅThe Business Reasons for Web Standardsââ¬? by John Sutherland was cut short because of me mentioning the failure of a lot of arguments when talking to enterprise level companies and managers in my “Highland Fling presentation”:index.php?p=423.
It was not my intention to discourage people to try finding and communicating business benefits, and I am sorry if I disheartened someone to do so. Whilst this was a strange experience (wow, people listen to what I say!) I am actually happy that it made people reconsider their arguments and realize that the subject of web standards for business stakeholders is rather more complex than selling it to other developers.
We all have done a ââ¬Åwhy our company should use web standardsââ¬? presentation in our careers and many a time it didnââ¬â¢t work out for a simple reason: we donââ¬â¢t speak the language of the people we try to reach and we donââ¬â¢t solve their problems. Instead we try to make them see the world through our eyes. In any communication it is always beneficial to know what ails the person you talk to, help them overcome one or more of their problems and then bring your ideas to the table. Opening a door is much easier when you already have a foot in.
In order to avoid more misunderstandings and make sure we have the right verbal ammunition to deal with all kind of people when we try to sell the idea of web standards development I set up a wiki on the subject of ââ¬ÅThe business case for web standards developmentââ¬?.
- Check out the wiki on the business case for web standards at “http://icant.co.uk/webstandardsforbusiness/”:http://icant.co.uk/webstandardsforbusiness/
I hope that by aggregating information there and using it to formulate our presentations and emails in the right manner we can have more impact than we have now. I also hope that reading success stories of others may encourage you to take a stand in your environment and try to get a chance to work in a less random manner than we have to do without sticking to standards.
Personally I also hope that I wonââ¬â¢t drown in spam or not get any worthwhile content at all and I hope that the wiki will be self-moderated as I donââ¬â¢t have the time to tend to it 100%. Iââ¬â¢ve been “very disappointed in the past”:http://web.archive.org/web/20060507074402/http://csstoolshed.com/ throwing myself to the wolves of collaborative aggregation and hope that I struck a more resonant nerve this time.
[tags]webstandards,business,promotion,evangelizing,wiki,writing,participation[/tags]
April 8th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
April 9th, 2007 at 12:10 am
April 9th, 2007 at 8:11 am
June 19th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Christian Heilmann has started a wiki – The business case for web standards (via Roger Johansson) to collect resources to put [...]
June 19th, 2007 at 11:26 am
June 19th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I read this article on Rogers site which lead to this Wiki set up by Chris Heilmann regarding talking the right language (as in “non-geek”) when it comes to co [...]
April 8th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Personally speaking I think there is definitely a need for this. Although a web-standards enthusiast I do feel that web standards tend to be written about and discussed by developers/designers for developers/designers. We are all agreed (well, many of us are) that web standards constitute good professional (and business) practice but how do we explain this succinctly to people who donââ¬â¢t know their RSS from their elbow? As Jeremy mentioned in his talk at the Highland Fling on Thursday, we can cunningly use language to persuade people (ââ¬Åwho doesnââ¬â¢t want to be unprogressiveââ¬?). But if we are not careful then the language we use will end up creating barriers and alienating us from those clients and employers who we are trying to convince.
For me, The Highland Fling reinforced my passion for web standards, my feeling that web standards are about providing an accessible and inclusive web for all users (irrespective of technology and ability), and above all demonstrated that there are a hell of a lot of developers out there who share this view. I definitely look forward to seeing this wiki unfold and how other developers are communicating the issues surrounding web standards and the benefits they provide.
April 9th, 2007 at 3:25 am
You may be able to use some of the material from the web site and organization started by fellow evolt.org members back in 2002: MACCAWS … Making A Commercial Case for Adopting Web Standards
maccaws.org
April 9th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Mark, well, if Maccaws (I think I am a member if remember correctly) want to add their stuff, they can do so. It is a wiki and Creative Commons.
April 15th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
A few years back, I registered the domain WhyWebStandards.com (WWS?) precisely with the view to creating a kind of one-stop shop where the three strands of benefits of web-standards could be made to site authors, site commissioners and site users using language appropriate to each of the three areas.
Unfortunately, I never got round to producing the page/site and enough time passed that I felt the point had been made, the argument accepted and the need for such a site – gone.
However, if it’s generally felt that the argument is still some way from being ‘won’, and that there is still a place for such a page/site, then it’s perhaps time that I put WWS? into action.
(The idea was also to make the page able to use 3rd-party stylesheets, in order that any site could link to the WWS, use their own, self-hosted stylesheet and have the WWS? appear according to their own site’s styling and identity (ÃÂ la Zen Garden).
(Perhaps saying it out loud will make it official enough to give me the kick in the rear I needed to get the site developed as I’d originally intended.) ;)
June 20th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I think you will need either aggressive wiki management or some sort of account system, because the front page is full of spam right now.