Validating the Code Behind the Page

Checking Content
Begin your web page validation by checking the content of your page. It’s actually fairly simple. Is everything spelled correctly? Are the sentences compete? Is the grammar right? While this should be done at the time of creation, after you’ve messed around with the code for a while, you often have a fresh perspective on the content, so take another look to make sure it says what you want it to say, and it says it well and accurately. Many web pages flop due to horrible misspellings and simple grammar mistakes so easily fixed with today’s built-in spell and grammar checking programs. Take time to triple check the content to be sure.

Validating the code behind your web page isn’t limited to a check to see if the HTML or CSS codes are right. You need to check the content of the page, test and verify accessibility, and thoroughly test your page under different viewing conditions in order to know if the design will indeed be accessible: visible and usable by everyone.

The order for checking and validating your pages should be:

• Content
• HTML tags
• CSS codes
• Accessibility
• Links

Creating “accessible” web pages is not just a standard from the W3C Organization. It is considered a requirement by some search engines. Getting noticed means being “seen” by search engines, so do your best to meet their needs, too. Don’t limit your audience by creating limited pages. It’s not hard to make your page accessible, and it will help you in the future as the rules become more stringent on this topic.

By checking the content and basic coding, including the HTML and CSS style sheets, you are making sure the web pages can easily be read by others, no matter their software. After all, if your page is doing strange things because of screwed up bits of code, it makes it difficult to read and people will click away from you quickly. Checking for accessibility guarantees your page will be able to be read by not only any Internet browser software, but by anyone.

Just because a web page looks good on your screen doesn’t mean that all the coding is accurate or that it will look good on someone else’s screen. Begin by checking your page against the W3 validator. If you have left a tag without a closing or have too many tags that don’t match, or the elements within a tag aren’t right, these will show up in your validation report. Any little bugs in the CSS style sheets will also be found.

To check your style sheets thoroughly, run it through W3’s CSS Validator separately. Fix and correct the mistakes and pass it through the tests again. When you get it right, the official validators reward you with an icon to post on your site to tell the world “I passed the test!” Don’t put this on every page on your site, but assign it to a nice “wall” on your “about us” or information page, just so those who are really interested in whether or not you passed can find it.

Most web page validators offer a link to help you understand what element is missing or needed to fix the code. About.com’s article about Using an HTML Validator discusses the most common errors to help you understand how to fix them if you need more information.

Different validators check for different problems. Some only check the HTML while others check both the HTML and CSS. There are validators to check your scripts, too. Some even check your layout to make sure all the containers are lined up as they should be and not spread all over the place overlapping, even though you can’t see it. Take the time to run your test pages through a variety of validation tests to catch all the little problems that might be there.

Helpful Validation Resources

The following are resources that will help you validate your web pages and code and help you understand a little more about how validation works.

HTML – Validation

• Watchfire’s Bobby Validator for Standards and Accessibility – hardest to pass
• W3C Tidy Online
• Windows GUI Interface for TIDY
• Searchengineworld.com’s Validator
• Site Report Card Validator
• Valet Webthing.com
• The W3C‘s HTML Validation Service (URL and upload)
• Watson Addy’s Validator
• Alpine Internet HTML Validator
• AnyBrowser’s HTML Validation
• Cynthia Says Validator
• Doctor-HMTL Validator
• HTMLvalidator.com’s Validator
• Website Test Tools and Site Management Tools (mostly paid, some free)
• Software QA and Testing Resource Center
• HTML Tag Checker
• W3.org Tidy Validator
• Cleans Your HTML Code to Shrink It

CSS – Validation

• W3.org’s CSS Validator (URL, upload, and direct paste in)
• Style-Sheets.com Validator (browser specific)
• W3C Style sheet validator
• WDG and HTMLhelp.com’s CSS Validator and Checker
• WDG Add-on CSS tool set for Win IE4.0x

Validation by Uploading Files – Validate From Your Computer

• W3.org’s CSS Validator (URL, upload, and direct paste in)
• Searchengineworld’s HTML File Upload Validator
• WDG and HTMLhelp.com’s CSS Validator and Checker (URL, upload, and direct paste)
• The W3C‘s HTML Validation Service (URL and upload)
• HTMLHelp’s File Upload HTML Validator

Validators – Resources and Articles

• Fixing Your Website
• Mark Freeman’s Many Links to Validation Resources
• Squarefree’s Bookmarketlets (JavaScript for web page testing)
• Walidator.com

HTML – Articles about Validation

• Understanding How HTML Validators Work
• You Call That Website Testing?
• What Every Website Owner Should Know About Standards: A Web Standards Primer

Meta Tag – Validation

• BCentral’s Meta Tag Validator
• Scrubtheweb’s Meta Tag Checker
• Submitcorner’s Metascan

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