Making Links Standard

[TymArtist]

I am attempting to construct a fully XHTML 1.1 Compliant website, and I have hit a road block in this process. We use an outside e-commerce solution that likes to use links with "&", "=", and "%20" in them. This completely invalidates the page, and when I try to alter anything the links simply don't work.

Does anyone have any work arounds for this problem? I'm sure I'm not the only one to have dealt with a non-compliant third party linkset. BTW, Using the proper symbol for & didn't work, so that doesn't seem to be possible in a link.

Thanks guys!

[Robin_reala]

Ampersands should be encoded as & in links - have you tried contacting your link provider and asking them to update their software?

[encyclo]

It is sometimes difficult to validate 100% when using third-party markup over which you have little or no control. If the rest of your page validates correctly, unescaped ampersands are unfortunate but not critical, so you may be forced to compromise validity for the sake of functionality.