As a newcomer, not only to this site, but also the world of web design, I'm wondering what level of programming needs to be learnt to be a quality web designer. NOT just for today, but for future trends.
I've read much about W3C changing standards of HTML programming and embracing more tighter standards through XHTML etc.
What does that mean for existing websites?
It appears generally accepted that poorly coded sites may not be viewable on some of the latest mobile devices. So what is the future of these sites in the Netscape/IE/Firefox etc environment on PCs in coming years? Will they become unviewable and in need of re-coding? Or is the W3C standards just a slow-changing pipe dream? Will poorly coded sites need recoding/redeveloping as newer browser versions become available, or will they always be backward compatible?
As far as I can gather, knowledge of "proper" HTML is an easier transition to XHTML. So what the future of web-designers who have relied on the poor coding of FP etc.? Is XHTML just a short-term way to reduce the number of lazy programmers and thus create a quality standard?
Apologies for so many requests of opinions all at once, but I'd love to hear the unbiased opinions from people who actually know this area!
I've read much about W3C changing standards of HTML programming and embracing more tighter standards through XHTML etc.
What does that mean for existing websites?
It appears generally accepted that poorly coded sites may not be viewable on some of the latest mobile devices. So what is the future of these sites in the Netscape/IE/Firefox etc environment on PCs in coming years? Will they become unviewable and in need of re-coding? Or is the W3C standards just a slow-changing pipe dream? Will poorly coded sites need recoding/redeveloping as newer browser versions become available, or will they always be backward compatible?
As far as I can gather, knowledge of "proper" HTML is an easier transition to XHTML. So what the future of web-designers who have relied on the poor coding of FP etc.? Is XHTML just a short-term way to reduce the number of lazy programmers and thus create a quality standard?
Apologies for so many requests of opinions all at once, but I'd love to hear the unbiased opinions from people who actually know this area!