HTML validators do not work on FP web

[Walter R.]

I used FP (several versions over time) to build my website.

When I try to have my html checked by one of several validators, such as
http://validator.w3.org/, I am told that there are 144 errors on my home
page alone. Among others, it complains about a lack of a doctype.

My website seems to be working fine and shows up in search engines. Why is
the html, as composed by FrontPage, all screwed up??

What should I do? What am I missing? Does this incorrect html create
problems with search engines?

 

[Murray]

Why is the html, as composed by FrontPage, all screwed up??

It's more than easy to use FP (or any HTML authoring tool) to write pages
that will never validate. The trick is, you need to know what not to do.
The only way to know this is to learn some HTML and CSS.

My website seems to be working fine

What browsers have you checked in. Usually a page with so many validation
errors will show large cross-browser/platform differences, particularly one
without a doctype, since that causes all browsers to render in quirks mode.

What should I do?

Post a link to the page.

What am I missing?

Basic HTML?

Does this incorrect html create problems with search engines?

Perhaps, or perhaps not....

 

[Walter R.]

You said: Post a link to the page. I don't understand: Post a link where to
where?

I did not compose the html on my website. Only FP composed the html. Why is
FP putting out such crap??

Perhaps, or perhaps not....

You sound like the Oracle of Delphi

 

[Trevor L.]

You said: Post a link to the page. I don't understand: Post a link
where to where?

I did not compose the html on my website. Only FP composed the html.
Why is FP putting out such crap??



You sound like the Oracle of Delphi

What Murray means is to post back here with the name of the site you have created

An example appears in my signature, starting with http://

 

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

FrontPage doesn't necessarily put out crap HTML. Something to consider is
that every browser (and there are still at least 5 that get used a lot) does
a few things that are non-standard. When you include doing things so they
look good in browsers that are a few years older, then you have to put out
some HTML that won't validate with the HTML validators nicely. There are a
lot of design choices that are made when designing a web site to ensure that
you're designing to fully validate with the HTML validators.

Hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

 

[Walter R.]

The site in question is www.rationality.net

 

[P@tty Ayers]

You said: Post a link to the page. I don't understand: Post a link where
to where?

I did not compose the html on my website. Only FP composed the html. Why
is FP putting out such crap??

As you've seen, having valid code isn't strictly necessary for simply
getting pages up on the Web, and FrontPage's goal is to help you get pages
up on the web with the least effort on your part. It isn't as concerned
about valid code as it is about allowing you to easily make things appear on
your page.

As Murray says, the way to counteract this (if you're going to keep using
FrontPage) is to learn basic HTML and CSS, and be aware of the code FP is
writing right from the start, and fix it if necessary.