Is FP Compliant with HTML Standards

[deacon]

Does it really matter if you pages are not compliant with HTML standards? I
was reading some material on the following URL and it states in there that
The default template you use when starting a new Web page using Front Page is
not compliant with HTML standards. Is it necessary to make changes as
suggested?

http://www.webaim.org/techniques/frontpage/

 

[Murray]

Yep. It's right.

Does it really matter? Yes. Why? Pages that validate to standards are
easier to maintain than pages that don't, since the browser landscape can
change rapidly. Things that were hinky, requiring non-standard workarounds
in IE6, will likely break in IE7, for example.

But - are you using FP for hobby sites, or for a business? If the former,
then <shrug>, it's up to you. If the latter, I would pay careful attention
to these things.

 

[deacon]

That link had some extra characters after it for some reason, try this one:
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/frontpage/

 

[Bob Lehmann]

No FP doesn't always write compliant html. But then, neither does any
WYSIWYG editor. And to further complicate things, writing compliant html
doesn't guarantee it will work in every browser.

So, there you go.....
Good Times, oh yeah.

Bob Lehmann

 

[deacon]

I just tinker with it Murray so I guess its no big deal. I do have a look at
them in other browsers though and most of my pages seem to be ok even though
they don't meet the HTML Standards. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Steve Easton]

Almost impossible to make a default template compliant,
because you don't know what doctype to use when creating
a generic blank htm page.



--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed............
........................with a computer

 

[Cheryl D Wise]

You can configure FP to write complaint code by creating code snippets for
doctypes and using them religiously. Configure FP under Tools | Page
Options | Authoring to use custom settings (no VML, etc.). Then not using
any of the bots so that FP has no reason to write code that isn't valid.
Create a DWT with that nice clean code and you are good to go as long as you
don't use any of the bot functions that require code to call FPSE functions.

While you should always try to make your code whether created by FP or hand
coded validate there are times due to browser bugs or features you want
(colored scrollbars - ugh) that you can't both get the look or function you
want and still validate. The trick is learning what validation errors cause
a real problem and which ones are more or less harmless. After all putting
in maginheight & marginwidth for Netscape 4.x compatibility is not a
critical error. Rather pointless given how few people still use that antique
but it won't hurt anything.

--
Cheryl D. Wise
MS FrontPage MVP
http://mvp.wiserways.com
http://starttoweb.com
Online instructor led web design training in FrontPage,
Dreamweaver and more!

 

[John]

Rather pointless given how few people still use that antique
but it won't hurt anything.

I'm with you regarding compatibility. It's not like Microsoft or Mozilla
are charging anything for their latest softwares. Unfortunately there are a
lot of people who won't upgrade their AOL browser but that's something they
have to contend with, not me.

 

[David Baxter]

You can configure FP to write complaint code

Where do I go to do this? The older I get, the more complaints I have,
so this would be a handy thing to learn...

 

[P@tty Ayers]

Well, actually, it's pretty simple: all you have to do is choose a doctype,
write it correctly, and be sure the rest of the tags in the default template
are valid for that doctype.