- From: olivier Thereaux <ot@w3.org>
- Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 14:57:21 +0900
- To: www-validator Community <www-validator@w3.org>
Hello, Here are a couple proposed changes to the SOAP API of the Markup Validator. The two proposed changes are both additions, and should therefore be backward-compatible. 1) addition of source snippet display The HTML output of the validator displays a fragment of the (offending) markup code where the error/warning/etc was found. It would be useful to have this information delivered through the SOAP output too. Typical value of this source snippet is escaped markup, with some html markup (<strong>) to locate the exact location of the error. I assume that for this reason, it would be safe(r) to keep the value within a CDATA block, but that's open to discussion. e.g <m:source> <![CDATA[ <strong title="Position where error was detected."><</ strong>html><head><meta http-equiv="content- type" content="text/html; charset=Shift_JI ]]> </m:source> 2) addition of error message explanation The value of the validator partly comes from the fact that almost each error message comes with some kind of explanation about the potential causes and fixes of the error. The HTML output of the validator displays that as HTML (duh), <p>s and <ul>s. I expect most tools to consume this for inclusion into HTML documents, so I think it's safe to keep it as an HTML snippet. Here too, I suggest using a CDATA block, but up for discussion. e.g <m:explanation> <![CDATA[ <p class="helpwanted"> <a href="feedback.html?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.jp% 2F;errmsg_id=82#errormsg" title="Suggest improvements on this error message through our feedback channels" >✉</a> </p> <div class="ve mid-82"> <p> You have used a character that is not considered a "name character" in an attribute value. Which characters are considered "name characters" varies between the different document types, but a good rule of thumb is that unless the value contains <em>only</em> lower or upper case letters in the range a-z you must put quotation marks around the value. In fact, unless you have <em>extreme</em> file size requirements it is a very very good idea to <em>always</em> put quote marks around your attribute values. It is never wrong to do so, and very often it is absolutely necessary. </p> </div> ]]> </m:explanation> Opinions and thoughts welcome. -- olivier
Received on Thursday, 17 May 2007 05:57:27 UTC