Re: target is invalid attribute for a

Ed, when you say :

> From what I can tell, the *target="_blank"* is always valid.  It need 
> not be specific to either HTML 4 or 5, nor to the variants strict, 
> transitional or frameset.  It’s been around a while, and never changed.
>

what exactly do you mean by "From what I can tell" ?  Have you looked at 
the formal specifications for HTML 4.01 (Transitional and Strict), for 
XHTML 1.0/1.1, for HTML 5 and so on ?  If not, then it may be that you 
are mistaken in your belief.  The validator (at least, the one used for 
validating HTML 4.01 & XHTML) is based on formal specifications, and 
thus will (correctly) highlight any deviations therefrom.  It is, after 
all, a VALIDATOR, not merely a set of heuristics that attempts to tell 
you what might or might not work in most modern browsers, so whilst 
'target="<whatever>"' may cause no problems in practice, that in no way 
affects whether it is formally valid or not.

Philip Taylor