Question

Developing websites are time-consuming. To improve productivity, I would code a prototype to show to our clients. I don’t worry about making the prototype comform to the standard. Most of the time, our clients would approve the prototype and give an unreasonable deadline. I usually end up using the prototype in production (hey, the prototype works. No need to make my job harder.)

I could refactor the code to output valid HTML. But is it worth the effort to output valid HTML?

Answer 1

It is only worth the effort if it gives you a practical benefit. Sticking to standards might make it easier to build a website that works across most browsers. Then again, if you’re happy with how a website displays on the browsers you care about (maybe one, maybe all), then going through hoops to make it pass validation is a waste of time.

Also, the difference in SEO between an all-valid html website and a mostly-valid html website is negligible.

So always look for the practical benefit, there are some in some situations, but don’t do it just for the sake of it.