Re: HTML validation

At 09:02 AM 4/11/2001 -0400, FODAC(at)aol.com wrote:
>I'm curious what standard people use to validate their sites, whether it's 
>strict HTML or something less "stringent". Seems to me a lot of sites do 
>not go by strict HTML.

Kevin,

You are basically asking two questions, and when you ask on a list like 
this one, yes, we do try to validate against the W3C validator. I actually 
have it on my quick toolbar in my Netscape so I can check quickly. I'm sort 
of a nut about it since this is kind of a wild-n-wooly frontier.<g>.

But, when validating, you'll get all sorts of answers as to whether we use 
*strict* or something else.

There are several different levels of HTML and the good Cap'n prefers 3.2 
STRICT since it's the most tried-and-true.

HTML 4 (whether strict, trans or frames), sort of left out img name which 
is very important for javascript rollovers), so 4.01 corrected that and 
some other minor things.

I prefer XHTML 1.0 Trans since it is a variation on the 4.01 strict but 
with a few minor differences in preparation for XML and some of the 
alternate ways to access the web. I tried writing and validating to XHTML 
1.0 Strict, but that was a hopeless failure since the browsers don't fully 
support a lot of the elements.

One of the biggest differences between HTML and XHTML is the use of CSS 
(Cascading Style Sheets). I love CSS and I know, Netscape >6 doesn't do it 
much justice, but for declaring fonts and colors, it's great.

As far as *a lot of sites* well, as with any profession, you will find 
different levels of knowledge. Some people may not know about standards, 
others may rely solely on their editors, and then there's folks like me 
that kinda, sorta know how to write valid code, but don't always just 
because. Others will choose a certain flavor and stick to it because that's 
what their audience uses.

When you do get ready to pick a DTD (the definition of the HTML/XHTML 
you're going to use) and you're not to sure, you can always use the W3C 
validator to help, just poke around at http://www.w3c.org and also at the 
Guild and eventually you'll get the hang of it. If you do end up using the 
W3C validator, be prepared for errors -- some are pretty straightforward, 
others are not.

Happy coding!
<tamara />

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