Conformance vs Custom Standards

Developers should learn about conformance to build systems that work correctly across different environments and comply with industry standards, such as ensuring web applications follow W3C guidelines for cross-browser compatibility meets developers should learn and use custom standards when working in teams or on long-term projects to reduce technical debt, improve collaboration, and streamline development workflows. Here's our take.

Conformance

Nice Pick

Developers should learn about conformance to build systems that work correctly across different environments and comply with industry standards, such as ensuring web applications follow W3C guidelines for cross-browser compatibility

Pros

• It is essential in regulated industries like healthcare or finance, where software must meet legal and security requirements, and in open-source projects to maintain consistency with community specifications
• Related to: compliance-testing, interoperability

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Custom Standards

Developers should learn and use Custom Standards when working in teams or on long-term projects to reduce technical debt, improve collaboration, and streamline development workflows

Pros

• They are essential in enterprise environments, large codebases, or when integrating multiple technologies, as they help enforce uniformity, reduce bugs, and make code easier to understand and maintain
• Related to: code-review, documentation

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Conformance is a concept while Custom Standards is a methodology. We picked Conformance based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Conformance wins

Based on overall popularity. Conformance is more widely used, but Custom Standards excels in its own space.