Steve's Blog is not W3C standard

[Gazzali]

Hello there

i am still trying to validate my blog to conform to World WeB Consortium standard. But i am losing patient. Do you know that Steve blog does not conform to their standard.

Does it matter really? if it does anyone here to help as i see boing boing is close their standard

cheers
gazzali
PROenrichment

[prasunsen]

Who cares about W3C standards. The only important standard is your site to work on the browsers

[Minsc]

Originally Posted by prasunsen

Who cares about W3C standards. The only important standard is your site to work on the browsers

I'm pretty sure that's what people said back when IE7 wasn't around and when it came out, their pages broke on that browser.

You'd ideally want your page to be as standards-complaint as possible and then tweak it to work on major browsers(which shouldn't be hard).

Anyway, I'm not sure why you're bothering with W3C standards on a Blogspot account... It would be a good thing to do if you wrote your own HTML and scripts since it would make things easier to fix when new browsers come out but since you're using Blogspot, it's their job to take care of that.

[Trezker]

I think the browsers should implement the standards.
If you're targeting IE users then the standards should be your last concern, IE doesn't conform to any standards except its own.

Firefox is pretty bad at following standards too. But I still use it thanks to the plugin functionality.

I think it would be awesome if website makers started following standards and instead of adjusting to the quirks of browsers they send a complaint for every failure to show a standards compliant website correctly.

[Tayrak]

And browsers are going to listen to website makers why? If you make a site that is 100% validated and it won't show in the most important browsers the only one losing is you.
W3 is trying to get things working across the board and for the most part webmasters can implement changes to make a site work in most browsers. Which is what is important. And webmasters are complying. It takes just about the same amount of work to write lousy code as good code, still there are a few things that will make you nuts. I go with the gave it my best shot mentality.
I don't do blogs so have no idea, but I had to laugh when you complained that Steve's blog wasn't compliant. But that's Steve and he's special . Really, if you write good code and it works don't worry over much.
Oh and just in case you wanted to know, there are some affiliate codes that will never clear W3 standards, not a thing anyone can do about it until advertisers come up to speed.

Tayrak

[jamestl2]

Hey, Google's validation isn't too much better:
[Invalid] Markup Validation of http://www.google.com/ - W3C Markup Validator

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Tayrak

And browsers are going to listen to website makers why? If you make a site that is 100% validated and it won't show in the most important browsers the only one losing is you.
W3 is trying to get things working across the board and for the most part webmasters can implement changes to make a site work in most browsers. Which is what is important. And webmasters are complying. It takes just about the same amount of work to write lousy code as good code, still there are a few things that will make you nuts. I go with the gave it my best shot mentality.
I don't do blogs so have no idea, but I had to laugh when you complained that Steve's blog wasn't compliant. But that's Steve and he's special . Really, if you write good code and it works don't worry over much.
Oh and just in case you wanted to know, there are some affiliate codes that will never clear W3 standards, not a thing anyone can do about it until advertisers come up to speed.

Tayrak

W3C intention is good rather even if we did not attempt enough to comply. But i think your site got less errors. How did you do it?

cheers
gazzali
PROenrichment

[Tayrak]

But i think your site got less errors. How did you do it?

I write my own code, in notepad. It doesn't add anything extra to your code. Dreamweaver will add all kinds of stuff, though it's one of the best WYSIWYG editors out there.
There are a few things I can't use valid code for, don't know why just can't get it. As long as my pages don't break and there isn't anything too nasty in my code I don't sweat it.

My site is a website, not a blog, so I don't know if blogs are just a bit out.

Don't over stress about it.

Tayrak

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Tayrak

But i think your site got less errors. How did you do it?

I write my own code, in notepad. It doesn't add anything extra to your code. Dreamweaver will add all kinds of stuff, though it's one of the best WYSIWYG editors out there.
There are a few things I can't use valid code for, don't know why just can't get it. As long as my pages don't break and there isn't anything too nasty in my code I don't sweat it.

My site is a website, not a blog, so I don't know if blogs are just a bit out.

Don't over stress about it.

Tayrak

you are right - it is a real stress for me especially so i am just the beginner in html. And i really do not grasp the mistakes found here

Perhaps you can take some of my stress by your good suggestion of the mistakes. Is there a short cut to overwrite the mistakes?

[Minsc]

Originally Posted by Gazzali

Perhaps you can take some of my stress by your good suggestion of the mistakes. Is there a short cut to overwrite the mistakes?

I think you could fix a lot of those by changing the doctype to XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Not sure if you could do that in blogspot...

Also, you can't use single quotes in HTML tags; they need to be double quotes.

(the doctype is at the very top of the source of the page)

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Minsc

I think you could fix a lot of those by changing the doctype to XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Not sure if you could do that in blogspot...

Also, you can't use single quotes in HTML tags; they need to be double quotes.

(the doctype is at the very top of the source of the page)

Is there any way u can give me an example from the mistakes in my html

[Tayrak]

Gazzali:
First one of the real benefits of using a blog is that you don't have to do any coding. There are zillions of blogs out there that have owners that absolutely never look at their code--and they work just fine. So to my way of thinking, you don't need to worry about it.

If you want to learn html, and xhtml ('cause html is being phazed out) go to W3Schools Online Web Tutorials , you know the place you've been there, and start taking the tuitorials. (they are all free)Start at the very beginning as though you know nothing. Make a website using notepad, blogs are different you can't always change stuff.

I always recommend beginners use notepad 'cause it doesn't add anything to your code. You can also view your masterpiece right on your computer without uploading to a server, all your learning is between you and notepad .
When you have a nice plain webpage in xhtml, then start with CSS. Same story here, use notepad, try it out on your own computer.

The one drawback to notepad is that it doesn't hightlight your mistakes and you can sometimes spend hours trying to figure out what lousy symbol you left out (not that I ever do that, much, roflmao) But the learning curve that notepad hands you is irreplaceable by any other program. Curse notepad, call it as many names as you like, but if you're learning to code, use it.

Once you've learned the basics you'll understand what is going wrong in your blog, and whether or not you can fix it.

Tayrak

[Minsc]

Originally Posted by Gazzali

Is there any way u can give me an example from the mistakes in my html

Change the first line, from:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html1/DTD/html4/loose.dtd">

To:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

Also, find everything like this:

<div class='widget Label' id='Label1'>

And change the single quotes to double quotes, to make it this:

<div class="widget Label" id="Label1">

Also, if you want some tools to do web development with, you'll need:
-A text editor: Notepad will work at first but you'll want one with a line listing at the site, multiple file support, syntax highlighting, auto-tabbing, ect. I use Dev-Cpp because it's the only editor I know of that can do everything I want without being stupidly bloated. (it's a C++ IDE though so it has no HTML-specific features)

-A browser: Not just any browser... Something that'll let you figure out what's wrong with your page. I'd recommend Firefox with the HTML Validator and Web Developer plugins, and also maybe the SearchStatus one. Remember to use the javascript console to view CSS/JavaScript errors. EDIT: And you'll need a bunch of browsers to test with also.

-A local server: If you want to do web development with something like PHP, you should really install an actual server. For this I'd recommend that you download Apache(1 or 2), PHP, and MySQL and set them up yourself. You also need to get PHPMyAdmin if you want to do anything involving MySQL.

-A real web hosting account: Something that you pay for, and that'll let you run scripts with MySQL. And a domain name. Managing a website is a skill too(so you need to learn to do it).. I use NearlyFreeSpeech.net for this.

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Tayrak

Gazzali:
First one of the real benefits of using a blog is that you don't have to do any coding. There are zillions of blogs out there that have owners that absolutely never look at their code--and they work just fine. So to my way of thinking, you don't need to worry about it.

If you want to learn html, and xhtml ('cause html is being phazed out) go to W3Schools Online Web Tutorials , you know the place you've been there, and start taking the tuitorials. (they are all free)Start at the very beginning as though you know nothing. Make a website using notepad, blogs are different you can't always change stuff.

I always recommend beginners use notepad 'cause it doesn't add anything to your code. You can also view your masterpiece right on your computer without uploading to a server, all your learning is between you and notepad .
When you have a nice plain webpage in xhtml, then start with CSS. Same story here, use notepad, try it out on your own computer.

The one drawback to notepad is that it doesn't hightlight your mistakes and you can sometimes spend hours trying to figure out what lousy symbol you left out (not that I ever do that, much, roflmao) But the learning curve that notepad hands you is irreplaceable by any other program. Curse notepad, call it as many names as you like, but if you're learning to code, use it.

Once you've learned the basics you'll understand what is going wrong in your blog, and whether or not you can fix it.

Tayrak

Hi there

If i do not do anything will i be losing in ranking?

cheers
gazzali

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Minsc

Change the first line, from:


To:


Also, find everything like this:


And change the single quotes to double quotes, to make it this:


Also, if you want some tools to do web development with, you'll need:
-A text editor: Notepad will work at first but you'll want one with a line listing at the site, multiple file support, syntax highlighting, auto-tabbing, ect. I use Dev-Cpp because it's the only editor I know of that can do everything I want without being stupidly bloated. (it's a C++ IDE though so it has no HTML-specific features)

-A browser: Not just any browser... Something that'll let you figure out what's wrong with your page. I'd recommend Firefox with the HTML Validator and Web Developer plugins, and also maybe the SearchStatus one. Remember to use the javascript console to view CSS/JavaScript errors. EDIT: And you'll need a bunch of browsers to test with also.

-A local server: If you want to do web development with something like PHP, you should really install an actual server. For this I'd recommend that you download Apache(1 or 2), PHP, and MySQL and set them up yourself. You also need to get PHPMyAdmin if you want to do anything involving MySQL.

-A real web hosting account: Something that you pay for, and that'll let you run scripts with MySQL. And a domain name. Managing a website is a skill too(so you need to learn to do it).. I use NearlyFreeSpeech.net for this.

Hi

Is there any way you can approach this with simplicity?

cheers
gazzali

[JimOfferman]

WordPress doesn't generate fully standards compliant code, hence no blog based on WordPress (including Steve's) validates as XHTML 1.1.

That said, the errors that WP creates are pretty benign... it would be nice if they were cleaned up, but I've yet to see something that breakes any of the browsers I test with (Safari, Firefox & Internet Explorer 7).

[Tayrak]

Hey Gazzali

Originally Posted by Gazzali

Hi

Is there any way you can approach this with simplicity?

cheers
gazzali

Yes there is, forget about it and just blog . That's what blogs were invented for, simplicity. Someone took a lot of time to come up with blogs, may as well make the best of them.
Tayrak

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Tayrak

Hey Gazzali



Yes there is, forget about it and just blog . That's what blogs were invented for, simplicity. Someone took a lot of time to come up with blogs, may as well make the best of them.
Tayrak

But dont you think it is just not a question of content vs conformity but it is rather it is like any governance of many into one solid entity.

Seriously i realy want to learn all about almost perfect webpages with competitive contents. Can you help?

Sorry for my belated reply.

[Tayrak]

gazalli

I don't do any blogs. I make a few websites for myself. I notice all yours are blogs. A blog can work as well as a website, in some instances. I prefer a website 'cause I'm familiar with them and I like them. I can't keep up with blogging, folks really expect regular posts. I write real slow, blogging and me just aren't a good match, at least not now.

If you're interested in a website I can help you but it'll cost you .

Tayrak

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by Tayrak

gazalli

I don't do any blogs. I make a few websites for myself. I notice all yours are blogs. A blog can work as well as a website, in some instances. I prefer a website 'cause I'm familiar with them and I like them. I can't keep up with blogging, folks really expect regular posts. I write real slow, blogging and me just aren't a good match, at least not now.

If you're interested in a website I can help you but it'll cost you .

Tayrak

Hi Tayrak

I have succeeded in my objective. My site now can be validated with W3C but not in blogspot. I have migrated to wordpress under my own domain name. I am very thankful to wordpress N to all the people here for their help..especially you tayrak

[vMike]

If you check pretty much any popular site nowdays it'll most likely not validate. That doesn't really matter. As long as all works well and you use all proper meta tags you should be fine

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by vMike

If you check pretty much any popular site nowdays it'll most likely not validate. That doesn't really matter. As long as all works well and you use all proper meta tags you should be fine

Hello Mike

Dont you think a W3C compliant means being more accesible to searchers and search engine?

[vMike]

Originally Posted by Gazzali

Hello Mike

Dont you think a W3C compliant means being more accesible to searchers and search engine?

it used to, but not any more, google sets its own standards now

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by vMike

it used to, but not any more, google sets its own standards now

You may wish to eloborate on "own standards" - just curious

[vMike]

Originally Posted by Gazzali

You may wish to eloborate on "own standards" - just curious

sure, check Google Webmaster Central
Webmaster Guidelines - Webmaster Help Center

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by vMike

sure, check Google Webmaster Central
Webmaster Guidelines - Webmaster Help Center

Hi there

thank you for the citation but the way google writes about optimization or anything for that matter will need a guide to 'interprete' what they are actually saying. Is it possible for you give me a summary of the current trends stated by google?

[sbdiane]

Single quotes on html element attributes are compliant and in the specifications. There is nothing wrong with using them.

You want to write valid code so that errors are minimized. If your code is having problems in a certain browser, you will have an easier time finding the problem by looking at the validation errors. Perhaps the error is described. Missing an ending tag can make things look very ugly. After you clear out all the errors, then you know that any problems you have with the layout will need to be solved with something other than a missing ending div tag or something like that.

Also, a valid doctype declaration is important so that browsers will render pages in standards-compliant mode rather than "quirks" mode, which means they'll try to follow the W3 standards instead of older rendering models. This is important because there are different ways to calculate the size of a box depending on which mode the browser is in.

Finally, when it comes to search engine ranking and things like that, valid code is only one tool to use. Just as, or possibly even more important, are things like using heading tags and other meaningful mark-up and source order of your content. A few validation errors, especially for things outside your control, are not really worth worrying about.

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by sbdiane

Single quotes on html element attributes are compliant and in the specifications. There is nothing wrong with using them.

You want to write valid code so that errors are minimized. If your code is having problems in a certain browser, you will have an easier time finding the problem by looking at the validation errors. Perhaps the error is described. Missing an ending tag can make things look very ugly. After you clear out all the errors, then you know that any problems you have with the layout will need to be solved with something other than a missing ending div tag or something like that.

Also, a valid doctype declaration is important so that browsers will render pages in standards-compliant mode rather than "quirks" mode, which means they'll try to follow the W3 standards instead of older rendering models. This is important because there are different ways to calculate the size of a box depending on which mode the browser is in.

Finally, when it comes to search engine ranking and things like that, valid code is only one tool to use. Just as, or possibly even more important, are things like using heading tags and other meaningful mark-up and source order of your content. A few validation errors, especially for things outside your control, are not really worth worrying about.

thank u for the valuable and comprehensive contribution.

Just another enquiry. When you say valid code is one tool for SEO ranking it means the 'other' factors are equally important. What priority will you give to valid code when designing your blog? Governance means unity.

I think we have to define the intent of the blog before we decide whether we want a clean html or not.

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by prasunsen

Who cares about W3C standards. The only important standard is your site to work on the browsers

It is a question of many languages or one

[Gazzali]

Originally Posted by vMike

If you check pretty much any popular site nowdays it'll most likely not validate. That doesn't really matter. As long as all works well and you use all proper meta tags you should be fine

Hi Mike

You are probably right. My site has errors now as I have done some ad ons. Governance makes us all stupid I think