Web Standards is a general term for the formal standards and other technical specifications that define and describe aspects of the World Wide Web.   In recent years, the term has been more frequently associated with the trend of endorsing a set of standardized best practices for building web sites, and a philosophy of web page design and development that includes those methods^.

The W3C develops open specifications to enhance the interoperability of Web-related products. W3C Recommendations are developed by working groups consisting of Consortium members and invited experts. Working groups obtain general consensus from companies and other organizations involved in creating applications for the Web, and create Working Drafts and Proposed Recommendations. These are then submitted to the W3C membership and director, for formal approval as W3C Recommendations. More information regarding this process and the review stages can be obtained from the W3C website.

Using strict HTML and separating structure from content paves the way to XHTML, an XML-compatible version of HTML. Using XHTML will enable web authors to leverage tools from the XML world, such as XSLT, to easily manipulate XML data.  Using XHTML is a way to enter a set of standards composed of XML-based technologies, such as XML, XSLT (transforming data), SVG(animated graphics), MATHML (describing mathematic expressions)… Such technologies have been designed to be interoperable, are the base of Web Services. This goes much further than just web authoring.

Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) is widely used on the Web for adding structure to text documents. Browsers interpret these documents, representing the structure in media-specific ways to the user. For example, visual browsers typically display the strong element (<strong> … </strong>) as bold text, while text-to-speech readers might emphasize that text when pronouncing it.