Off Topic: Validation of HTML and CSS code

  • Thread starter Thread starter Malcolm
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M

Malcolm

My Web site at www.sandiwaygolf.co.uk/ has been developed over the last
10 years in FrontPage from versions FP97 through to FP2003. The
Members' Area, to which access is restricted is very much larger than
the public part of the site. In those years I have been a frequent
visitor to this newsgroup and benefited from responses to other users
questions as well as my own. For these benefits I am very grateful.

At present my site is being rebuilt by a third party using a content
management system. I have a role in the process and I welcome the
management decision to redevelop my Web site in a content management
system. After 10 years it is not before time!

The problem I have had with my FrontPage site has been with the
difficulty of using FrontPage and having non-compliant (proprietary)
code created. To me making the code compliant did become easier as
FrontPage was developed but perhaps inevitably, I have only been partly
successful in doing so.

I find that the work being done in the CMS site does not validate both
in HTML and CSS. There are basic errors and numerous repetitious
warnings page after page. For one example the pages do not have a DOC
TYPE Declaration.

I have been told by the developer that the errors and warnings are known
and are the consequence of using the Content Management System. I find
the response, at best curious even naive. To me, as far as possible
both HTML and CSS should be written as near compliant as is possible to
ensure at the very least, backward compliance as the rapid development
of everything to do with the Web continues.

I am seeking views on the necessity of validating code in a content
management system and indeed on any Web site.
 
I agree with you that the site should be written to compiant code. As long
as you have a role in the site, run it against a validator and make the
changes!
 
Pages should at least have a complete and valid !doctype to maintain
consistent rendering across browsers. Having valid markup as well helps
with consistent rendering: some invalid tags (such as <nobr>..</nobr>
are accepted by today's browsers, but others such as <layer>...</layer>
are not.

http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/tests/why-doctypes/ illustrates the
difference a doctype can make to page rendering.
 
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