Re: Validation being kinda wierd...

Am 08.03.2007 um 11:51 schrieb Swivelgames Support:


> Hey, I have recently made 'http://www.swivelgames.com/templates/ 
> VistaCMS/index.php' valid, but I was kind of shocked when I found  
> out what I had to do to make it valid.
>
> If you go there and look at the source, you can see that there is  
> not end </head> tag, nor is there a <body> tag.. immediately you  
> would think, thats not valid, but according to the validator it is.  
> It told me that my source code was not valid when I had the </ 
> head>, and <body> tags in, and they were in a logical spot. I've  
> never had this problem, and I always put the tags in the same spot,  
> and nothing seems to be wrong.
>
> Please help me figure out why I cant have an end </head> and a  
> <body> tag in my source code. I would like them to be there.
>

Go to http://validator.w3.org/ and try to validate your URL by  
changing manually the DOCTYPE to "HTML 4.01 Strict" rather to let  
autodetect your Transitional DTD. Then you will get some errors.
The Validator behaves correct in saying, that your document with a  
transitional document type is valid. Why?

HTML as an SGML derivate isn't forced to be well-formed (http:// 
www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#sec-well-formed), like XHTML as an XML  
derivate is (see http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#h-4.1).
HTML follows the looser rules of SGML. The HTML 4.01 Rec, Chapter "3  
On SGML and HTML/SGML constructs used in HTML", section "3.2.1  
Elements" on http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/intro/sgmltut.html#h-3.2.1  
does explain this.
It states, "Some HTML element types allow authors to omit end tags  
(e.g., the P and LI element types). A few element types also allow  
the start tags to be omitted; for example, HEAD and BODY.
The HTML DTD indicates for each element type whether the start tag  
and end tag are required."

For details on the both elements and their DTDs, which reflect the  
rules above from a technical view, see:
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#h-7.4.1 (7.4.1 The  
HEAD element)
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/global.html#h-7.5.1 (7.5.1 The  
BODY element)
and
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/sgml/loosedtd.html (22 Transitional  
Document Type Definition)

Nevertheless, anybody prevents you from making your document well- 
formed in HTML 4.01 -- you are strongly encouraged to do so. Or, if  
nothing speaks against it, switch to a XHTML Document Type -- then  
you are forced to do so anyway.
At least, why don't you use the strict DTD at all? The transitional  
DTD is only recommended, if you want to use deprecated elements in  
your document. In all other cases, you are encouraged to use a strict  
DTD.



Sierk

-- 
Sierk Bornemann | Germany
email:            sierkb@gmx.de
WWW:              http://sierkbornemann.de/

Received on Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:04:09 UTC