Almost nobody pays attention to web standards anymore

Recent research reveals a concerning trend: a significant number of the world's most widely used websites are disregarding web standards, leading to compatibility and accessibility issues. ValidateHTML, a project by independent French developer Théo Ducreux, analyzed over 5,000 of the most popular domains, finding that more than half (2,656 sites) serve content readable by humans. However, 87.2% of these sites violate web specifications, with 12.8% having fully valid HTML and only 2.6% being completely clean.

The standards established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the WHATWG are crucial for ensuring consistency across different browsers and reading tools. Despite this, nearly 90% of the examined sites fail to serve proper HTML, while 87.2% exhibit at least one HTML violation, including the latest HTML5 specs. Additionally, 18,863 CSS errors were identified across all sites.

These violations not only hinder cross-browser compatibility but also impede accessibility, posing legal liabilities for websites that do not comply with the forthcoming European Accessibility Act.

Accessibility issues are particularly alarming, with 20.4% of sites missing alt text on images, which often contain vital information, and 41.6% lacking ARIA labels that identify page regions. This could leave screen readers struggling to convey the page structure to users. The project utilized a custom web crawler and open-source parsers to gather data, emphasizing that the findings are based on factual evaluations rather than speculation.

The implications of this trend are significant, as it challenges the interoperability of web technologies and hinders the development of assistive technologies. Tim Berners-Lee, the web creator, has previously cautioned that if developers create their own standards, connecting and communicating across the web becomes more challenging.

The article also highlights the role of browsers and front-end frameworks in exacerbating the issue, with many sites employing incorrect tag nesting due to the influence of popular frameworks. While the author does not consider invalid HTML an existential threat to the web, he underscores the importance of adhering to standards for ensuring consistent and accessible web experiences.