I came across this article - British Standard has been commissioned to raise on-line standards - and had to stiffle a laugh. A 'standard' for website design? All websites? That is, every website irrespective of its objectives, markets or industries? Guidelines - yes. A standard? Noooooo.

If we need a standard for a 'useable' website - then it is already exists. The Worldwide Web Consortium (www.w3.org), under the auspices of its Web Accessibility Initiative, has produced a comprehensive set of guidelines for the creation of accessible websites. Sadly, too many designers equate these guidelines to access for the disabled. They are wrong, to quote my grandfather: 'it's so obvious, a blind man can see it'. Translated to website design - if a partially-sighted person can navigate your site, then anyone can - and that is as it should be.

And a standard for SEO? Hello - there cannot be a standard for something that we do not know the benchmarks for [the search engine algorithms]. And even if we did know the benchmarks, they change all the time anyway. And who will decide on the standard? Experts around the years can't decide what works and what doesn't.

But here is my fear. An organization might see the 'standards' and slavishly follow them, assuming that they are right - and their site will fail in its objectives because - like in business and marketing - there is no single 'right' design for a website.