Forum Moderators: open
1. Error: there is no attribute "LEFTMARGIN" for this element (in this HTML version)
... and same also for topmargin, marginheight and marginwidth.
I use these properties of the <body> to eliminate margins of the document in NN4. I know that I can set margin/padding for body to zero in my stylesheet, but unfortunately it doesn't work in NN4. Since I can't drop NN4 support and want to make my design look good it in, already this issue shows that code validation is useless for me.
2. For years I use the technique of CSS class and ID definitions conbinations, like this:
<p class=one id=two>
It is used to oevrride some settings of the class "one" by adding their new values in ID.
Code validator shows an error when I use the above code more than once. I know that according DOM there could be only one element with some ID. But I don't use this for any DOM referencing, but only for styling purposes. Of course I use the same declaration more than once, otherwise this game doesn't worth it!
I know that I could eliminate this by creating different style class for every page element. But the technique I use is very powerful and flexible, and due to it my styles are clean and smaller in size.
This issue is very inconvenient in practice.
3. Error: there is no attribute "BACKGROUND" for this element (in this HTML version)
I always use <td background=""> property and never add this to my CSS. I treat these things as 'local' settings that are the first ones to be changed when layout changes (that happens frequently on earlier stages of development). I know that I could use inline style declaration but I found it stupid to make the same thing in a way that require longer code.
These are not the only ones but most annoying.
Although most of them can be changed/corrected, some (like body margins) cannot be fixed without harming the layout in NN4, and this is not an option.
Taking into consideration all this, I doubt that these validation games are useful and applicable to real-life projects. A least unless we have old browsers vanish, code validation for me is just a tool for error fixing (if I miss something) and nothing more.
My works are for customers/visitors, and I have to do my best to give them the best thing I can do. And the thought that everybody will see the same page without any exceptions is more important than "Valid" sign I can put somewhere at the bottom. It is for my ego-pleasing only, but my web works are for my visitors.
What do you think?
a) It is perfectly alright to not follow the standard to achieve an objective that you couldnīt achieve otherwise. But then you do not violate the standards by chance or because you donīt know better, but because of a given objective.
b) Nobody in his right mind would/could/ought to expect valid code in a browser like NN4 which doesnīt care about standards itself.
c) In the long run a law/rules/standards abiding community is more efficient, easier to integrate in, more predictable, easier to code for than the situation we have now.
Validation can certainly help you make sure your code is well-formed (properly nested tags, for example). But a page that doesn't validate isn't automatically worthless.
First of all, browsers will simply ignore tags they don't understand. That's mainly for backwards/forwards compatibility. They won't explode, they won't grind to a halt, and the Internet Police are not going to arrest you.
There are all sorts of excellent reasons for ensuring that your code validates, but inserting an extra attribute to make Browser X behave properly won't have any earth-shakingly terrible consequences for anyone.
