Valid Html? Google, Yahoo Don't Validate, Should I?-00-4368

By Author: Peter Huntley
Total Articles: 4351
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The trend of using valid HTML and CSS for websites is catching up, especially with the emergence of specialized PSD to HTML service providers . While validated HTML is a mark of certain degree of respect for code, the fact that your site is not validated doesn't really mean the end of the world. If your site doesn't validate, you are in the company of several popular companies like Google, Yahoo, and W3C's validator site itself.

It is common knowledge that Google's website does not follow standards. In fact, there is an online petition to encourage Google to validate. The reason Google doesn't validate is that it wants to save precious bytes. It is expected that making Google site to have valid HTML would increase the page size by around 10% which is a fair argument for not validating.

W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium, is recognized for setting standards for HTML. Its validation services are used by coders around the world. W3C's donation page, doesn't validate, due to an error. Nor does the homepage of one of its sponsors - HP.

Given below are PR10 pages and their validation summary

Site ...
... Name - HTML Validation Status
Google Search - 97 errors
World Wide Web Consortium Home - Validated successfully
W3C CSS Validation Service - Validated successfully
US Government's Official Web Portal - 23 errors
Adobe - Adobe Flash Player -19 errors
Adobe - Adobe Reader Download -21 errors
National Portal of India -Validated successfully
United States Department of Health and Human Services -12 errors
U.S Government recovery board -102 errors
Chinese Government Website -75 errors
The European Library -57 errors
Europeana - 85 errors
CNN -48 errors

Should you validate validate when these PR10 pages don't?
The answer is yes. Having a valid site that doesn't show properly in your visitors' browsers is useless, however having a valid site that renders well in all browsers is great.

Validation is a way of doing things correctly, that require low maintenance. Google Chrome captured 5% marketshare in under a year. Various websites that ran properly in Firefox, IE and Safari still don't show up properly in Chrome. A standard compliant website is far more likely to display properly in Chrome. A standards complaint website can be useful from the perspective of making your code future proof which will render on multiple platforms.

About the Author:

To select a PSD to HTML provider that provides validated HTML, select us for yourhttp://www.psdstohtml.com/ conversion needs.

Peter Huntley is an expert in the area of PSD to HTML and frequently discusses about HTML and validation. To contact the author and discuss more about this article, go to http://www.psdstohtml.com/psd-to-html-wordpress-joomla/2009/10/validhtmlgoogle/

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