Plain Old Simple HTML forms the bricks and mortar of website development. Well constructed, efficient websites use POSH frameworks to ensure that they’re user search engine and user friendly, and are future-proofed against new and emerging technologies and platforms. POSH websites perform better, are easier to develop, and are much easier to maintain.
So why do many organisations still develop websites using outdated, overly complicated and redundant technologies?
In an industry which can evolve beyond recognition almost overnight, we explore why it’s worth ensuring that your website is POSH, and how it can benefit your bottom line.
Back to basics.
In the early days of the internet, website developers were limited to using text, simple images and functional layouts. Few websites used graphical layouts and decorative images, and fewer still were anything more than simple, structured documents.
As new technologies emerged and the internet became more accessible to the home user, brands quickly realised the importance of making an impact on the consumer. With this in mind, developers began to find ways to extend, push and ultimately to break the limitations of their tools in order to create more complex, graphical websites. With a complete lack of regulation, and little in the way of best practice guidelines, what ensued was to become a legacy of an internet crowded with inefficient, cluttered, underperforming websites – many of which are completely inaccessible to users relying on assistive technology.
Now, as the industry continues to evolve at an exponential speed, we’re seeing a reversal in the way websites are developed. Though no formal legislation exists on how to develop a website, organisations are evolving and publishing guidelines on best practice and standards, much of which centres around avoiding the kind of complicated, messy development that has been prevalent since the early 90’s. While there are still a minority who development sub-standard websites using non-compliant code, the majority of organisations have adopted these guidelines, and understand the massive return on investment that can be achieved by developing websites with Plain Old Simple HTML.
So what does POSH do?
POSH provides us with a standard of development which forces developers to use clean, straightforward HTML, and de-clutters websites by hiding all the technical and presentational code behind the scenes. By doing this, we can go a long way towards ensuring that a website performs well for users and search engines, and functions correctly with past, present and future software – from old computers to the latest mobile platform. Imagine trying to show customers around a high street store where all the wiring, fittings and fixtures were exposed – POSH lets us take complicated javascript, snazzy dropdowns and images and tidy all of them away, leaving your communication channel clean, uncluttered and accessible to both users and search engines. A POSH, search optimised website attracts and converts more customers, and offers the best return on investment of any digital media spend.
POSH – The next generation.
Not only does POSH allow us to do some serious housekeeping – we can also use it to label and tag your information in ways which will enhance usability and search performance, and integrate with other websites, software and search results. By adding labels to things like products, reviews and company details, we can prepare your website for the next generation of internet usage and search engine platforms ahead of the big switchover, when websites like Google will be able to understand and interpret your content, and provide users with much more targeted adverts and results – providing that your website is compliant.
But my website works fine the way it is.
Before regulations evolved to protect people, many structures were built cheaply and sub-standard using asbestos – a stark example, but a strong analogy to running the online arm of your business with a website constructed with a non-semantic structure. If your website is constructed using a convoluted, redundant structure, it’s only a matter of time until it collapses and damages your brand. As the internet evolves, search engines, websites and users are interacting in increasingly clever and complex ways – much of which is dependent on having a compliant site.
Time to upgrade?
If you’re concerned that your website isn’t POSH enough to ride the next wave of internet evolution, then we invite you to get in touch with us for a free website review, where we’ll give you a no-nonsense consultation looking at exactly where we can help to ensure that your brand is at the forefront of your online marketing channel.
