Re: 4.01 validation inconsistency re: <p> in HTML 4.01

I understand both the questioner's and the responders points,
but what is less clear is why the validator proposes the use
of <P> tags at all; surely the recommendation to insert code
would be less likely to cause errors and/or confuision
if it restricted itself to  recommending solely the <IMG ...> 
tag with a caveat about "in a suitable context" ?

Philip Taylor, RHBNC
--------
David Dorward wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 2004-02-23 at 17:48, Newman, Chuck wrote:
> [The validator said:]
> >         This Page Is Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional!
> > ...and stated that I could add the following HTML to the page.
> ...
> > I did so, and then the page would no longer validate -- it complained
> > about the <p> directive.
> 
> Then you probably tried to add the code to a section of HTML which can
> not contain paragraphs, most likely within an inline element such as
> <font>.
> 
> I don't think its the responsibility of the validator to provide
> instruction on where paragraphs are allowed in HTML documents.
> 
> --
> David Dorward                                 <http://dorward.me.uk/>