Re: [VE][55] Error Message Feedback

On 2005-08-10 03:53, Ben 'Cerbera' Millard wrote:

> Validating http://quetzal.bizopiaweb.com/
> Error [55]: "X declaration not allowed in instance"
> 
> (The page being used as an example has many errors, this message refers to 
> error #17 at the time of writing.)
> 
> This particlar error message does not display a message beneath the code 
> sample.  I assume this is because duplicate DOCTYPE declarations are rare, 
> but as shown by the previous message they can occur.  Therefore, I would 
> suggest giving this error a short description since the wording of the title 
> alone is not clear.  

I think it's pretty clear. The validator points out that a particular
declaration can't appear at this place, and shows the line number.
Deleting it can't be hard then, without further explaining.

> I certainly didn't understand what it meant by "in 
> instance" and neither did the person who made the site.

The document instance is what comes after the prolog (which is usually
just a document type declaration), i.e. <html>...</html>.

> Perhaps making this error part of the "document type does not allow element 
> [X] here" group would help understanding?  Duplicate HTML elements are 
> captured by this group and that element is used in a similar way to DOCTYPE 
> since they both can only appear once, as far as I know.

The DOCTYPE declaration is not an element, its a markup declaration, so
this isn't a possibility.

-- 
David Håsäther

Received on Wednesday, 10 August 2005 14:23:41 UTC