Re: HTML 3.2, semicolon missing on ñ

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003, Brent Petersen wrote:

> In HTML 3.2, if I code Español using Espa&#241ol, the
> validator at http://validator.w3.org/ does not do what I
> expect.

Then you need to tune your expectations.

> This page validates as HTML 3.2.  The semicolon is
> missing after 241.  I think the page is not valid HTML
> 3.2.

The construct Espa&#241ol contains no markup error. In HTML 3.2,
SGML rules apply, so that "The refc [= semicolon] or
RE [= record end, i.e. end of line] can be omitted only if the reference
is not followed by a character that could occur in the reference, or by a
character that could be interpreted as the omitted reference end."
(The SGML standard, clause 9.4.5)
Since the letter "o" cannot be part of the character reference,
the semicolon is optional.

-- 
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/