Article
Air Conditioning and Web Standards
This past summer our landlord replaced the air conditioning unit in our condo. Not only was the unit replaced, the piping in the attic was also gutted and rerouted. It all started because we discovered water leaking near the A/C vent in our bathroom. The problem was an easy fix — a bigger pan was needed to collect the condensation from the A/C unit. However, the contractor noticed a bigger problem: the unit was old and needed to replaced.
Apart from the leak, I was not aware of any issues with the air conditioning. As a user, I did not know any better. Sure, the controls were old and inaccurate, and the air distribution was not ideal; yet if the leak were fixed, I probably would have been content to keep using the system as it were. After the contractors spent four days rebuilding the system, I realized what I have been missing: we now have digital controls, and airflow reaches all corners of the house. What’s more, the unit now runs more efficiently.
The original owner of our condo found the cheapest solution for air conditioning. The system was shoddily built and the piping was incorrectly installed. In the end, more money was spent to fix all the problems. Of course, with the title of this post one can tell where this is leading. Web standards. Why is it important? One might get by building a website using code that is not compliant to standards. The site’s users might not care or know any better. But once newer browsers and technology comes along, more time and money must be spent to bring the site up to speed.
In the end, both stories boil down to the same principles: do your research before you hire outside your expertise, and the cheapest solution isn’t always the best solution.
Comments
There are no comments yet
Leave a Comment