Having created a website it is extremely important to make sure it will run properly. The matter of validation is essential here. Being a newbie in the web development industry you may not be abreast of what HTML and CSS validation means. That’s why FlashMint has prepared an instructive piece of advice concerning your online presence proper operating. Even if you are a professional webmaster it will be useful to refresh some basic validation knowledge.
So what does validation stands for and what is so important about it? The matter is you should have your HTML or CSS code checked before launching your website in order to avoid errors by means of special program or online service. The task of HTML validator is to establish complete correspondence of your web page code with existing W3 Consortium Standards. CSS validation service implies the same inspection of your Cascading Style Sheets - it will check whether they conform to the standards set be W3 Consortium but also it will identify compatibility with different web browsers. Nowadays there are a lot of validators both free and commercial, and all of them use specific options for ensuring you that the website you launch won’t have any troubles with code. By the way, W3 Consortium has its online validator available for free so it won’t be difficult for you to make use of it. But mind that such validators will only check the HTML or CSS syntax errors and cannot guarantee full compatibility with different browsers and platforms.
In general there are several main reasons for validating your website:
1. Compatibility
There are a lot of browsers people use being online and each of them has its peculiarities. That’s why if your website has some code errors it won’t run properly with some of the browsers or platforms. But having your website validated you can be sure there won’t arise any difficulties in opening the pages across the browsers.
2. Visibility
If your website contains errors they may be ignored or your web pages may be misunderstood not only by the browsers but by search engines as well. It means that when search engine stumbles on some error it can index a part of your page or even the whole page improperly which in any case won’t be good for your source.
3. Skills
Building a website with errors you make others hesitate in your professional skills and responsibility - the fact that won’t probably add to your reputation.
But on the other hand there is an opinion that validation shouldn’t be done and there is also an explanation. Those who are against the validation tell that it gives no guarantee that all your web pages will work properly and you still have to do some additional testing, which means spending more time without knowing whether your work is productive or not. Another fact against validation says that the ordinary visitor won’t check the source code of your web page and thereby won’t define HTML and CSS syntax errors it may have. All that matters for an average user is the way your website loads in his/her browser.
So what are you to consider about validation? Actually it is up to you to make a decision. We tried to give the necessary information for making all pros and cons clear to you and now you are to decide whether your web page needs validation or it will just turn in a waste of time.
And of course FlashMint can completely assure you that each of website templates displayed at our website is errors-free and won’t cause difficulties while working with it.
So make your choice and good luck!
