Validation is for loosers
17/07/09 :: Posted by RobIf it is then I am the biggest looser of them all… there is nothing better than seeing that validated green. But more than that I HAVE to use a strict doctype, so even if a page will validate with Transitional I have to code it Strict XHTML, even if squishing the last errors isn’t 100% possible.
Is there something the matter with me? Probably, who knows?
Validation is an awesome tool that I think people need to use more. Helping out in the forums at CSS Tricks I see so many people asking questions about why their site isn’t working how they want it to, and most of the time their bugs could be picked up through the w3 validator, plus they would learn so much from just fixing the errors – like what block and inline elements are and how they interact with each other.
So if you don’t run your sites through the validator to at least get most of the kinks out, you should! Even if you don’t get it fully validated, its an awesome bug catcher especially when you go code blind.
Oh and as a quick tip Jason Lengstorf did a great little tip tut about making target=”_blank” validate in a strict document, check it out here
So do it!
This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
1. Losers
2. Your page throws 20 validation errors
3. Your doctype is transitional
Dear annon poster.
1) it was an emphasis on the sound “oooo” As in Loooooooosers – maybe I should have added more.
2) Most are plugin/wordpress related – I don’t want to waste time re-coding plugins.
3) Unfortunately exceptions have to be made when you use Wordpress plugins, strict can break em.
The point I was making is the validator isn’t a god we have to worship – validation isn’t something you have to aim for and some of the time is impossible to hit and still have a sites working cross browser. Validation however is an awesome tool for finding those bugs!
How very brave of you to post under your true identity – I find your comments so wise and so enlightening…
yeah it’s a good point. i do need to validate my sites more often. it must be very frustrating when you help people so much and they can’t even help themselves.
and it was also funny how you owned hmm for his bitchiness. i love it when a smart ass become a stupid dick.
He has a point though – I need to make time to keep my own site as ship shape as I can – I don’t get why people who make the plugin’s can’t generate code that validates though… very odd.