I've flip-flopped several times on the question of the importance of web standards. Yes, they are important - after all HTML would not even exist without standards (it is a standard). On the other hand, the constant moving target of trying to comply with the standards is annoying and tends to create extra work.
I've been in the industry for over 25 years, since the days of the old ARPANET, and I've seen a heck of a lot of standards. I've even created or contributed to a few myself (all long gone). I've worked in "open" shops where there were no standards and in shops with very strict standards.
I began with straight .TXT files, and the only standard was the position of the tag line (signature) and the rule that it cannot exceed a certain line length. Now I code in XHTML 1.1, CSS 2, ASP.NET and JavaScript. I've seen a lot and I've experienced both sides of the coin.
One fact is clear: no standards equals chaos.
Another fact: too strict adherance to standards equals chaos.
Michael Moorcock wrote many books about a character called the Eternal Champion. This fellow's job was make sure there was a balance between Law and Chaos. If either side won, then the result was the same: dull gray. But strong law with some chaos made for a zesty, exciting world.
Mankind needs laws (and standards) in order to be able to live and work together. Too many laws and you wind up unable to work and live together, and life becomes so boring it is unbearable.
Whether you sgree with it or not, standards are what makes the internet work. It's a simple fact. TCP/IP is a standard, ethernet is a standard and even the way the vido monitors display is a standard. In fact, the wavelengths on the wire are a standard and I am sure that the way they are interpreted is detailed in some very "exciting" document somewhere.
When you get right down to it, even English is a standard. A group of people has agreed that the word "red" means the same as the concept of the color of red. This allows us to communicate and to understand each other.
HTML standards are no different. Their purpose is simply to make it possible for webmasters to provide content in a manner which the end user can understand using a browser of some sort. The concept of a standard means that webmasters spend less time on worrying about quirks between manufacturers and more time worrying about content. Basically, the closer all browsers are to the standard, the less work webmasters have to do to make sure their documents look the same from platform to platform.
Another important point is there are many web standards. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure there is an HTML 1.0 standard somewhere, and I'd say most sites now more or less live up to the HTML 3.x. Thus, you are free to use whatever standard you want. You can even, shudder, use straight .TXT files if you don't like standards. In many of the FAQ sites all over the internet, the "standard" of .TXT works just fine, and it sure works everywhere.
The bottom line is that W3C is an organization directly supported by browser manufacturers and the internet community in order to create a better environment for everyone. Standards are not always good and they are not always perfect (if there was a perfect standard then there would be no need for new versions), but they do help communication.
Good standards, and I've found that virtually all of the W3C's standards are good, create an atmosphere where we webmasters can spend less time worrying about code (the least important feature of a web page) and more about content (the most important feature) and presentation (also very important).
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.