Don't give up on the validator - it can be very useful
Tuesday August 14, 2007
Common Validation Problems and How to Fix Them
On Saturday, I posted about HTML validators, and I received a number of emails that indicated to me that while people might see the value of HTML validators, they find them very hard to use. I've been using different HTML validators for the past 14 years, and there are a few simple things you can do to get the most out of them. Hopefully, the following article will help you - it details the tricks I use to understand and get value out of the W3C HTML validator. And before you tell me, I know that this site doesn't validate. I don't write the HTML. :-)
Comments
Here is an interesting information regarding HTML injection
I find that using a validation program helps me to be more detailed when I write HTML. I would rather get the code right the first time instead of going back and redoing it. I do find that using HTML validation or any source of validation for any language that I use is very useful.
I think it’s important to distinguish between “critical” validation errors and ones that can be ignored. The W3C Validator gives a missing doctype the same weight as an unescaped ampersand. 100% validation isn’t really necessary (and all but impossible on a large site like About.com), so it’s important to be able to read the validation report and understand what really needs to be fixed and what can be overlooked.