Next message: Nick Kew: "Re: Suggestion: "allow extra attributes" flag"
From: Bjoern Hoehrmann <derhoermi@gmx.net>
To: Bryce Nesbitt <bryce@obviously.com>
Cc: www-validator@w3.org
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 21:24:53 +0200
Message-ID: <ln7jmt0v3lkcclnhve32b4f0uridbn12e9@4ax.com>
Subject: Re: Suggestion: "allow extra attributes" flag
* Bryce Nesbitt wrote:
>It's really common to include extra attributes in a web page,
>for assorted browser-compatibility reasons.
You _reduce_ browser compatibility by using proprietary markup.
>The extra tags
>are ignored by browsers that don't understand, and everyone is happy.
Not possible, since the user agent doesn't know anything about the
content model of the unknown elements it cannot parse the document.
>Except the validator.
No, it validates your document against your given/selected document
type definition. If you selected HTML 4.01 Strict, it will complain
about elements and attributes not defined there. If you want to use
proprietary markup, get a proprietary DTD from the entity who defined
those proprietary extensions or write your own.
>I'd like to be able to check real-world web pages, not just showcases
>to compatibility with the HTML specification.
Violations of HTML aren't from the "real world", they originate from the
illusiones world of "the page is fine, it works in both browsers"
(famous last words of document authors).
--
Björn Höhrmann { mailto:bjoern@hoehrmann.de } http://www.bjoernsworld.de
am Badedeich 7 } Telefon: +49(0)4667/981028 { http://bjoern.hoehrmann.de
25899 Dagebüll { PGP Pub. KeyID: 0xA4357E78 } http://www.learn.to/quote/