Microsoft Live (again)

This has clearly been discussed before, but I thought it worth recording
the following conversation with MS Live support people - especially
given recent comments about embedded javascript in pages claiming to be
XHTML. The first message is a reformatted version of the problem
acknowledgement I received when sending web feedback, hence the slightly
unusual headers.

Validating the page straight from Microsoft Live returns 46 errors.
Saving the page as HTML, then altering the DTD related information to
make it HTML4.01 Transitional, reduces this count to 7, most of which
are not show stoppers. I will feed this back to MS.

>Sent : Wednesday, August 08, 2007 3:13:12 PM UTC
>To : OFFLV.BASC.EU.UK.EN.MSF.SEA.TS.T01.RTG.00.EM
>Service : Microsoft Office Live Basics
>Full Name: Chris Ritson
>
>   How can I generate standards complient HTML in an office live web 
> site? Currently the home page of my site is reporting many errors 
> when fed to the W3C validation service.
>
>   http://redheughers.co.uk/default.aspx

>From: "Microsoft Customer Support" 
>Subject: SRX1041396477ID - BS: 1st contact - HTML codes in Office Live
website
>Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 18:41:40 -0000
>
>Hello Chris,
>
>This is Fern from Microsoft Office Live Support and I'll be happy to 
>assist you.
>
>I understand that you want to create "W3C" compliant HTML codes for 
>your website. Let me help you out.
>
>Chris, first off, HTML codes for Microsoft Office Live websites are 
>automatically generated by our system. Furthermore, Microsoft Office 
>Live doesn't recognize validation test results generated on the 
><http://validator.w3.org/>http://validator.w3.org/ website. This is 
>because our system uses different kinds of web design technologies 
>for our websites which may not be fully compliant to the standards 
>set by the said website.
>
>However, Microsoft Office Live has a BYOS (Bring Your Own Site) 
>feature available to Microsoft Office Live Premium and Essentials 
>subscribers. This feature will allow you to use any third-party web 
>design tool or software to create your website. This way, you can 
>have full access and complete control of the HTML codes on your 
>website. In case you're interested in upgrading your account, here 
>are the steps:
>
>1.      Sign in to <http://www.officelive.com/>www.officelive.com
>
>2.      On the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 
>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Office Live Member 
>Center home page, select Additional Services on the toolbar that is 
>on the left side of the page.
>
>3.      Click Upgrade Link
>
>4.      Click to accept the Terms of Service, and then click Continue
>
>5.      Return to the Member Center
>
>I hope this helps, Chris. For other Microsoft Office Live related 
>concerns, you can contact us at 
><http://support.officelive.com/>http://support.officelive.com. You 
>can also join us in our online community forum at 
><http://www.officelivecommunity.com/>www.officelivecommunity.com.
>
>Thank you for contacting Microsoft Office Live. Have a nice day.
>
>Regards,
>
>Fern
>
>Microsoft Office Live Support

>From: Chris Ritson
>Sent: 08 August 2007 23:21
>To: Microsoft Customer Support
>Subject: Re: SRX1041396477ID - BS: 1st contact - HTML codes in Office
Live website
>
>Thank you for you interesting response. Which are you saying - that 
>you don't recognize the standard (XHTML 1.0 Transitional) that my 
>Microsoft Live refers to in the DOCTYPE it returns, or that you 
>dispute the validation results returned (but are in fact compliant 
>with the quoted standard)?
>
>Either way I am sure this conversation would be of help to the W3C 
>beta testers so I hope you have no objection if I pass the entire 
>dialog on to the beta test programme for the development of 
>the W3C validator?
>
>Chris Ritson.

> From: "Microsoft Customer Support" 
> To: "Chris Ritson"
> Subject: RE: SRX1041396477ID - BS: 2nd contact - HTML codes in Office
Live website
> 
> Hello Chris,
> 
> This is Lester from Microsoft Office Live Support.
> 
> I understand that you are having problems in terms of 
>validation on W3C.
> I know how important this issue is to you.
> 
> Chris, I checked and reviewed your previous conversation with my
> colleague. I would like to inform you that we are not disputing the
> validation results returned by the W3C Markup Validation service.
> However, I would like to clarify to you that the HTML codes that
> Microsoft Office Live generates is not yet compliant with the 
>standards
> set by the W3C validation. Even though you encounter several 
>errors when
> checking your Microsoft Office Live web pages, it doesn't 
>mean that your
> website's HTML coding is invalid. As you can see, you can view your
> website without any problems or error received.
> 
> However, you can inform W3C about the Microsoft Office Live validation
> issue. Things like this help us to strive more to make our product to
> become a better tool that can help you with your business 
>needs. What I
> can do right now is to forward this and inform our Product Development
> Team with regards to this issue.
> 
> I hope I was able to clarify this issue. Should you have any other
> questions or if you need further assistance regarding this 
>issue, please
> do not hesitate to contact us again by replying directly to 
>this e-mail.
> If you have new concerns, you can contact us through
> http://support.officelive.com <http://support.officelive.com/> .
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Lester
> 
> Microsoft Office Live Support

Chris Ritson (Computing Officer and School Safety Officer)

Room 707, Claremont Tower,        EMAIL: C.R.Ritson@ncl.ac.uk
School of Computing Science,      PHONE: +44 191 222 8175
Newcastle University,             FAX  : +44 191 222 8232
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.  WEB  : http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/

Received on Thursday, 9 August 2007 15:05:54 UTC