What is the correct diagnostic for <span></apan> ?

I spent a great deal of time today trying to work
out why a class was propagating beyond the end
of the <span> element to which it should have
been limited.  As the page was dynamically created,
I had to copy from Seamonkey's View Source pane
and use direct input to the validator.  I then
saw that there were unexpected errors, but with
1.25 dioptre glasses I was certain I was being
told by the validator "end tag for element "SPAN"
which is not open".  I finally put on stronger
glasses and discovered what the validator was
actually saying was "end tag for element "APAN"
which is not open", and in some senses this
diagnosis was correct : I did indeed have an
end-tag </apan> which should (of course) have
been an end-tag </span>.  But was this diagnostic
the best that the validator could offer?  Would it
not have been better if the validator had said
"end tag for element "APAN" : not a valid element
in this doctype" ?

Philip Taylor

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Received on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 18:41:47 UTC