What do we know about web standards? Does such standard even exist? And if the answer is yes, does our websites come anything close or up to that standard? What am I talking about? Well, what we have here are 2 guys that will tell us more about what Web Standards Malaysia is all about.

Q. Why did you guys decided to start this website?
Maharis: Web Standards Malaysia (WSMY) is really a labour-of-love project. We love the Web, we believe in web standards [http://www.webstandards.org], and we want to encourage Malaysians to produce better accessible and user-friendly websites. It’s all about best practices, really. Creativity and technique combined. We feature websites and articles that inspire responsible web design and development. Web Standards is huge in most modern countries, and we want to help Malaysia be at that level.

Suffian: Yeah, Maharis is the one who actually started WSMY. The rest of us got involved later on when we found out more about the benefits of web standards. I joined WSMY some time in late 2006 after reading a copy of Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing with Web Standards. So I just told Ari I wanted to help out and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q. Who are the people behind Web Standards Malaysia? Tell us more about yourselves.
Maharis: Join our group at Facebook . We’re really just a bunch of guys who share a common passion for making the Web a better place. Me? You can find out more about me at my weblog . I’m quite a split-character actually, the real me is Ari, the digital me is Gato. Or, eh wait, was it the other way around? Hehe ask Suff!

Suffian: Ari is an art director/developer at Agenda and I’m a writer/information architect at Proximity Malaysia. Most of us are involved with the Web in one way or another and Ari and I have been creating websites, on and off, since the late Nineties. Hey, since we’re allowed some shameless self-promotion here, I have a blog, too! It’s called (dis)information architecture and I rant on about usability, information architecture and advertising.

Q. So far, what do you think about local web designers? Do you think they are on par with other international designers out there?
Suffian: I think we’re catching up pretty fast, though. We’ve got kick-ass designers like Muid Latif, Ikram Zidane and Faizal Reza, thinkers and marketers like Danny Foo from Websites Made Simple, Khai Lee and John Kuan at Mindvalley and web design companies like Stampede Design in Langkawi and Faizal Heesyam’s Pixelational Studio from Sabah. It’s getting better.

Maharis: The best thing about working on the web is that it is truly a worldwide thing. It would be hard to compare in terms of creativity. Each country, each individual, is unique in their own right. Malaysia has many awesomely talented web designers. But in terms of best practices in web development, we’re still behind generally.

Q. There are a lot of ready-to-use CMS and free blogging platforms available on the Internet. Do you think this make designers and developers a bit lazy to develop their own stuff?
Suffian: Not really. I’m a big Wordpress fan and I think that ultimately, open-source platforms are more of an empowerment than they are impairment to developers. A lot of these platforms offer end-to-end creation of content and presentation, and they’re giving big brand CMS systems a run for its money, and that’s a good thing. The history of the Web has shown that innovators, not establishments, always lead the way.

Maharis: I think it’s a great thing because most of these CMS (WordPress, MovableType, TextPattern, etc.) are developed by some of the best minds on the Web. We can only learn a lot from them. For example, a designer can learn a good deal of front-end development techniques just by customizing the CMS to fit his/her design. I know I did.

Q. Name some your favourite local websites. Are there any still undiscovered websites that we should know of?
Suffian: Street Thing is one of my favorite haunts because I’m a sneaker freak. I also like what eMenang is doing; I think that Sha was very clever to start up a contest blog for Malaysia.

Maharis: Gotta’ love Digital Malaya for inspiring creativity over the years! Oh by the way, not exactly a local website, but did you guys know that W3C Sites [http://www.w3csites.com] is run by a Malaysian.

Q. What do you think Malaysians are still lacking compared to international web developers out there?
Maharis: Best practices. I find it really sad that most web developers here don’t know about The W3C as much as they should.

Suffian: I have to agree with Ari that when it comes to best practices, there is a lot left to be desired. People aren’t thinking about usability as often as they should, they’re not thinking long-term and they’re not switched on to user-centric design at all. A lot of corporate websites out there are either too Flash-y or just plain crap. That’s because users are never part of the design process. Our industry just hasn’t grasped the benefits of iterative design that includes direct input from your target audience.

Q. Are there any particular respectable websites in Malaysia that awards web developers for making/building great websites?
Maharis: WSMY! Perhaps someday, no?

Suffian: None that I can think of! Maybe we should start one and give away iPhones to award-winning web designers. Haha.

Q. So far, what have you guys achieved since starting this project?
Maharis: We’ve made a lot of like-minded friends in Malaysia and around the world. We’ve also been better able to convince others about Web Standards. On a personal level, I got invited to be an International Liaison Group member for The Web Standards Project .

Suffian: I think my understanding of how the Web works has increased rather dramatically after I switched on to best practices. In an environment where people have differing opinions on how technology should be used or even what a sitemap should look like, it’s important to have a grasp of what constitutes genuinely great work. It’s not just a case of understanding social blogs or search-engine optimization; those are merely tools. To make great websites, you need to understand what your purpose is and you can’t have a better understanding than through web standards.

Q. What do you think about the internet usage and awareness in our country?
Suffian: Apart from the fact that we’re all torrent freaks? I’m kidding. I think that we’re as competent at interacting and fulfilling our needs online as any other Internet user from any other country. We’ve got an ever-growing population of bloggers, entrepreneurs and gamers and the Internet penetration rate for Malaysia is pretty high; at 47.8% of the population, there are probably more people with computers than televisions. That’s fucking nuts. So, what’s everyone waiting for?

Maharis: I’ll side with Suff on that!

Q. Any parting words?
Maharis: To my fellow standardistas, keep fighting the good fight! Even when it gets tough, whether it be creative or technical constrains, or just tight deadlines, keep pushing for quality and best practices. Don’t let it get you down when projects isn’t 100% standards-compliant. Take it one step at a time. Sooner or later, we’ll get there! To those interested in getting into Web Standards, welcome to a whole different way of designing and developing websites! We promise it’ll be the best learning curve you’ll ever experience. Thanks Syed, for the interview and time. Thank you readers, visitors and friends of WSMY!

Suffian: Tell us about your websites! We want to know!

Website : http://wsmy.org

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