Re: Validator output and standards conformance

Olle Olsson <olleo@sics.se> wrote:

>Maybe this has been noted before, but being new to this list...

It has, but don't let that stop you. Better multiple reports of the same
problem then none at all. We appreciate all feedback so please don't
hesitate to send something our way!


>Just for fun, I asked the HTML-validator to validate the document
>returned by the HTML validator [and it failed to validate].
>
>This is from an ordinary user's point of view a mere curiosity, but from
>the point of view of whether W3C lives up to its own standards, it can
>be regarded as an embarrasing deficiency.

It is. That's why I'm working hard to fix it right now and, presumably, why
Ville Skyttä has been subtly sending me patches for the the HTML output
lately. Right, Ville? :-)


>Whether these problems will be repaired can be of interest, as I am
>presently dissecting the page by software to extract some information
>from it. If the HTML structure of the validators output is  changed,
>then I have to change my software. No big deal, as  long as I know
>if/when it is going to happen.

I _strongly_ reccomend against attempting to parse the output of the
Validator at the moment! It isn't structured, it isn't consistent, and it's
virtually /guaranteed/ to change frequently and at whim.

The real solution is for me to get my backside in gear and produce machine
parseable output from the Validator (we have at least two previous requests
for this feature). It's been on my TODO for a long time, but has been
pushed back for one reason or another.

When this is in place you'll optionally get XML output from the Validator
that can be processed by any conformant XML Processor. With any kind of
luck the implementation will be robust enough that I can guarantee
well-formed output (IOW, provably wf'ed in the CS sense).

If I get carried away it may even be exposed as an XML-RPC interface. :-)


>[Svenska W3C-kontoret: olleo@w3.org]

Give me a holler when you decide to branch out to Norway! :-)

Received on Thursday, 4 April 2002 08:49:36 UTC