Re: Question about appc-checker test

Hello Matthias,

On Nov 12, 2006, at 05:17 , Matthias Mauch wrote:
> I have check a valid XHTML 1.0 Strict document. The validator tell me
> that that this page is valid XHTML 1.0 Strict. But the appc-checker
> test tell me that this document has not passed the test.
[...]
> Ok, I understand what this mean, but I doesn't understand why the
> (X)HTML Validator tell me that this document is valid. Is this not
> a contradiction in itself?

It may look like a contradiction until you know a bit more about what  
"validation" actually is. Validation is a very specific term, it  
means checking a document against a formal grammar. So a document can  
be valid, without necessarily be compliant with everything that is  
written in the specification.

The appendix C of the XHTML 1.0 specification is also special,  
because it is an informative part of the specification suggesting  
good practices to make XHTML 1.0 documents friendly to legacy user  
agents. Checking these rules is not relevant to validation, but it's  
nice to perform that check in addition to validation. Which is why  
the unicorn tool does just that.

Think of a press article:
Validation is similar to checking syntax, grammar
then you can do some spell checking
... and then you can have the text proofread for style and substance  
by a good editor.

Hope this makes things a little clearer.
-- 
olivier

Received on Monday, 13 November 2006 00:54:50 UTC