I expected my WordPress site to validate

am I being old-fashioned?

[myrrh]

I hired a U.S.-based webmaster to install a WordPress theme for me.

When I spoke with her before hiring her, I said "I assume this will validate?"

She said, "Yes, I am very particular about my code."

After the site was put on my server, I checked it through the W3C.org Validator and found 8 errors and warnings.

I wrote the webmaster and told her it didn't validate and she replied, "...please provide clearer details on how the pages don't 'validate'.
Validate what?"

I thought all webmasters knew what the Validator and validating was.

Is validating a thing of the past with WordPress and am I being unreasonable to expect my site to validate?

[lucy24]

People will disagree about whether validation is essential. But if your hired webmaster genuinely doesn't know what validation is-- as is strongly implied by her quotation marks-- you've hired the wrong person.

[myrrh]

So, is it widely accepted among professional web developers that the term "validation" is understood to mean the W3C validation standards?

[lorax]

Yeah, pretty much IMHO.

[myrrh]

Thanks, lorax. One more question:

I've always striven to create sites that validate because I was under the impression it was the right thing to do.

Has validation become any less important in the last 2-3 years, or is it still worth putting in a reasonable effort for?

[lucy24]

Validation means you've done everything right. So if something doesn't display as intended, it's MS-- whoops! I mean, it's the browser's fault.

That's really all validation has ever meant.

[lorax]

LMAO!

@lucy24 pretty much summed up my thoughts on the matter. What's most important is your visitors see what you intended and the SEs can index your site accurately. If it validates too then bonus!

[Planet13]

Lucy's posts are ALMOST ALWAYS as good as that first cup of coffee in the morning... and I LOVES me some coffee!

And by the way; it probably is microsoft's fault!

[myrrh]

Thank you everyone for your input. And yes, I'm a huge fan of MS, too - BLECCH!

Is it still reasonable to try for validation in general?

And if so, for a WordPress site?

[blueraykhazana]

Have you used any advertisements? Or just validating theme only?

[Planet13]

I don't think most sites validate. I would be surprised if any wordpress site validated. Maybe they do. Just seems like there is a lot of custom stuff going on in there.

I WOULD expect any reasonably competent web designer to know that you are referring to W3C validation when talking about a site validating.

[henry0]

Aside what's said above, has validation any weight in SEO?

[lorax]

Validation is the cream on top in SEO IF it has any weight at all. I personally don't think it matters as long as the site has no obvious access / delivery issues and servers relatively clean content/code.