Comments on: The importance of validation, revisited http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/05/09/the-importantce-of-validation-revisited/ Web design and that Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:18:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: David Hucklesby http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/05/09/the-importantce-of-validation-revisited/comment-page-1/#comment-24076 David Hucklesby Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:22:43 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=225#comment-24076 In essence, I agree with you. The validator is another tool, not an arbiter of good design or anything else. Aiming for absolute perfection may well be a waste of time. Especially if you use an XHTML DOCTYPE then serve it up as HTML, which does allows some tags-- like P-- to be not closed, plus other things not allowed in XHTML. However, if things go wrong, the *first* thing I would do is validate -- to a strict DOCTYPE, too, even if I intend to use Transitional for some reason. In essence, I agree with you. The validator is another tool, not an arbiter of good design or anything else.

Aiming for absolute perfection may well be a waste of time. Especially if you use an XHTML DOCTYPE then serve it up as HTML, which does allows some tags– like P– to be not closed, plus other things not allowed in XHTML.

However, if things go wrong, the *first* thing I would do is validate — to a strict DOCTYPE, too, even if I intend to use Transitional for some reason.

]]> By: Megan http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/05/09/the-importantce-of-validation-revisited/comment-page-1/#comment-23697 Megan Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:54:14 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=225#comment-23697 Another thing I should add is that I'm not talking about accepting hundreds of errors and going back to tag soup. What I'm saying is that it might not be so vital always ensure that every special character is encoded and every <p> tag is closed correctly. There are too many other things to worry about to spend all your time checking the validator and fixing the little things. I also wanted to emphasize the point that validation is only a small part of web standards. By focussing to much on validtion you could be missing out on a lot of other important aspects. Another thing I should add is that I’m not talking about accepting hundreds of errors and going back to tag soup. What I’m saying is that it might not be so vital always ensure that every special character is encoded and every <p> tag is closed correctly. There are too many other things to worry about to spend all your time checking the validator and fixing the little things.

I also wanted to emphasize the point that validation is only a small part of web standards. By focussing to much on validtion you could be missing out on a lot of other important aspects.

]]> By: Megan http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/05/09/the-importantce-of-validation-revisited/comment-page-1/#comment-23679 Megan Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:20:46 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=225#comment-23679 Hi Gary, That's a good way to look at it. I'm not sure if you read my previous post or not, but I certainly don't mean to say that it's okay not to validate at all. It's just that some of us tend to get too obsessed with it to the detriment of other aspects of our sites. This post is also coming from the perspective of someone who has been working with web standards for 6 or 7 years. I'm sort of "over" validation, and even standards if you know what I mean. I still follow them - they are ingrained into my way of working. I just don't think about it too much. Hi Gary,

That’s a good way to look at it. I’m not sure if you read my previous post or not, but I certainly don’t mean to say that it’s okay not to validate at all. It’s just that some of us tend to get too obsessed with it to the detriment of other aspects of our sites.

This post is also coming from the perspective of someone who has been working with web standards for 6 or 7 years. I’m sort of “over” validation, and even standards if you know what I mean. I still follow them – they are ingrained into my way of working. I just don’t think about it too much.

]]> By: Gary Ion http://meganmcdermott.com/2008/05/09/the-importantce-of-validation-revisited/comment-page-1/#comment-23667 Gary Ion Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:39:50 +0000 http://meganmcdermott.com/?p=225#comment-23667 As an amature designer and programmer I look at validation as a way to confirm all is ok even though when errors are reported my sites are actualy working ok. I do believe that we all should be working to a minimum standard as in any other industry As an amature designer and programmer I look at validation as a way to confirm all is ok even though when errors are reported my sites are actualy working ok.
I do believe that we all should be working to a minimum standard as in any other industry

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