What is page validation?

Page validation is something that most if not all web developers should get used to practising. It is essentially a form of spell (maybe more so grammar) check of the syntax and accuracy of your (x)html. It gives developers a chance to check their work against the w3c standards which i had discussed in the main page of this section. As i suggested in the before-mentioned article, these standards are put in place to ensure there is some form of consistency, to enable web developer's sites to be displayed correctly in a variety of different web browsers.

Why validate your pages?

Aside from what i have already mentioned above, validating your webpages prooves to serve mulitple advantages to both the end user and the developer. Validating pages means that the developer does not have to soley rely on a browser to error-check and then re-correct your errors, spending valuable page-loading time. Simply put, web browsers differ completely in terms of how they error checek/what they check for. As you can see, relying on this method is a tad "hit and miss".
As i have learned by now, a website i am coding, when previewed in my browser, will not look the same on someone elses! This is a key factor.

Many people believe that just because many other websites do not validate their pages, that they should not have to. The common answer to this is that there had been a lawsuit filed in regards to poor accessibility to a website, filed by a blind user. Dont forget, accessibility is law in many countries.

Another (and possibly one of the most important) reason to validate your pages is for SEO purposes (search engine optimisation). Search engines such as google, work in such a way that the little "spiders" scan your webpages for code/content, now if you have incorrect syntax/code, these spiders will bypass this portion which will most probably lead to a particular section of your website not being indexed. Obviously as a result, end users will not be able to find this said section. Doesn't sound very bad for one page, but put your whole site into context, and you will soon realise, that this will spell trouble for you.

How can i validate my pages?

Whilst validating pages may seem tedious and hard work, the same cannot be said for being able to access validators. There are many validators out there, however you should of course use the validator straight from the horses mouth. This of course is the W3C validator. Simply type in the website URL and the results page will find ALL of your coding/syntax errors. There are also many different options to make life easier for you to correct your code. I strongly reccommend you back up your work before using it though, just in case!

Closing comment

Of course using a validator is a time consuming and tedious task, it should be done though for you to have a fully viewable, multiple-browser-friendly and accessible website.
Personally, i believe that it really depends on what you are creating a website for, and indeed the target audience. My portfolio is for the eyes of prospective employeers, therefore i should really have 0 errors when validating. However, i can assure you that this is not the case, but i am working hard towards making sure my entire website is of W3C standard, and i also do appreciate/acknowledge the importance.

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