Web-based HTML and CSS validation tools

Posted 23 July 2008 08:45am by Patrick Oak with 0 comments

Are you validating your website's HTML/XHTML and CSS? If not, you should be.

Having HTML/XHTML and CSS code that is compliant with standards is important for the following reasons:

• It increases the likelihood that visitors using different browsers are still seeing your website as you intended it to be seen.
  
  
• It increases the likelihood that visitors accessing your website using  devices other than a PC will be able to access it successfully. Don't forget that a significant number of people access the internet through portable devices, for instance!
  
  
• It helps those with disabilities access your website. For a larger business in the United States, compliance with ADA standards may be an internal requirement.
  
  
• It can assist with SEO.
  
  
• I have personally found during the process of developing a website that validation usually results in cleaner code that is less bloated, which can help boost load times.

Given these benefits, and the fact that there are a number of online tools that you can use to validate your website's HTML/XHTML and CSS, there is no reason not to validate!

Here are some easy-to-use online tools for doing just that:

• W3C Markup Validation Service
  The standard for checking the validity of HTML/XHTML pages.
  
  
• W3C CSS Validation Service
  The standard for checking the validity of cascading style sheets.
  
  
• Cynthia Says
  Check to see if your website is compliant with Section 508 standards and WCAG guidelines.
  
  
• WAVE
  WAVE is a nifty tool that provides a visual analysis of a web page's accessibility. I love this!
  
  
• WDG HTML Validator
  This HTML validator supports the validation of multiple URLs and entire websites.
  
  
• Web Page Purifier
  This tool allows you to take a web page and restricts its HTML to the selected standard. Also be sure to check out the Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer.