CSE HTML Validator Professional v5.00 Documentation
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Configuration File

HTML Validator comes with an included configuration file that supports many different 'categories' of tags. Support for HTML 4.01, HTML 4.0, Netscape Extensions, Microsoft Internet Explorer extensions, Cold Fusion/CFML (Pro), SMIL (Pro), RealText (Pro), WML (Pro), XHTML (Pro) and more is already included.

An important characteristic of the included configuration file is that the categories of HTML are built upon one another. This means that if you want to validate against HTML 3.2, you must also make the category HTML 2.0 active, in addition to making the category HTML 3.2 active. If you want to validate against HTML 4.0, you must make the categories HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2, and HTML 4.0 active. You cannot make just the category HTML 4.0 active. This is because the category HTML 4.0 requires the category HTML 3.2 as its "foundation", and the category HTML 3.2 requires the category HTML 2.0 as its "foundation" .

To validate for Microsoft Internet Explorer (Microsoft IE), you will also need to make the categories HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2, and (for Internet Explorer 4.0 only) HTML 4.0 active as well as the category for the Microsoft IE Extensions you wish to use (either 3.0 or 4.0). If you make the Microsoft IE 4.0 Extensions category active, you must also make the Microsoft IE 3.0 Extensions category active.

A similar situation applies for Netscape Extensions. You will have to select the Netscape Extension category that you wish to validate against, as well as HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2, and other "foundation" categories that Netscape supports.

The WebTV category (Pro) requires at least the HTML, Microsoft IE Extensions, Netscape Extensions, and Tables categories active for full support.

The SMIL category (Pro) only requires the Element Identifiers category active if you will use the ID attribute. Other categories may be deactivated. The tag name program for the SMIL tag automatically disables most categories, so you don't have to disable any categories for SMIL syntax checking.

The default is for most categories to be active. If needed, categories that are not active may automatically be made active by a tag name program (Pro). Therefore, depending on how a specific category works, a non-active category may still allow syntax checking of that category even if it is inactive.

Notes

  • The Dynamic HTML and Scripting & Applets categories should normally be made active or inactive together.
  • The Obsolete category contains tags such as LISTING, NOTE, PLAINTEXT and XMP.
  • The Miscellaneous category contains tags such as NEXTID, and the MSIMAGELIST, NATURALSIZEFLAG, and NOSAVE attributes.
  • The General category contains the CSEIGNORE tag. Use the CSEIGNORE tag to surround tags that you want HTML Validator to ignore during a validation.
  • The XML 1.0 category contains the xml:lang attribute.

Lite Version

CSE HTML Validator Lite does not support all of the categories that the professional version supports (such as CFML, RealText, SMIL, WebTV, and XHTML). Furthermore, it does not support tag names programs, one of the most powerful features of the professional version. Because it does not support tag name programs, the following information about the validator flags does not apply to the lite version. The lite version will never generate any of the messages that you see below.

Validator Flags (Pro)

The tag name programs in the included configuration file may act differently depending on what validator flags are set. This allows you to further customize the behavior and validation of HTML Validator. Listed below are the effects that having certain flags set will cause to documents being validated with the included configuration file. Setting a flag usually causes certain messages, warnings, and/or errors to be enabled for display. Most of these messages, warnings, and errors begin with "[x]" where x is the validator flag that can be unchecked or checked in order to disable or enable the message, respectively. This lets you easily determine which flag you need to disable if you see a message that you do not want to be displayed during a validation. However, remember that when you disable a flag, you may be disabling multiple messages. Therefore, to determine most or all of the effects of disabling a specific flag, you can use the following information.

Note that flags that are not listed are probably not used, depending on what configuration file you are using. Flags not listed will likely be used in future configuration files. If you are using a newer configuration file, then some flags may be used that are not documented here. If you are using an older configuration file, then some flags documented may not be actually used. The effects of some flags may also differ according to the version of HTML Validator that you are using. For example, flag 14 has no effect for versions prior to 3.9.

Flag 1 (Internet Explorer specific messages)
  • If ACRONYM is used, displays a message that ACRONYM is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the AUTOCOMPLETE attribute is used, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer 4.0+ specific. (New 200009251)
  • If the FACE or COLOR attributes are used with the BASEFONT element, displays a message that these attributes are Internet Explorer specific and do not work with Netscape. (New 200007081)
  • If BGSOUND is used, displays a message that BGSOUND is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the BGPROPERTIES attribute is used with the BODY element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the LEFTMARGIN and/or TOPMARGIN attributes are used with the BODY element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If BUTTON is used, displays a message that BUTTON is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the VALIGN attribute is used with the CAPTION element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If COL or COLGROUP is used, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If DEL is used, displays a message that DEL is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If DFN is used, displays a message that DFN is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If FIELDSET is used, displays a message that FIELDSET is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the FRAMESPACING attribute is used with the FRAMESET element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific. (New 200007101)
  • If the COLOR attribute is used with the HR element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If IFRAME is used, displays a message that IFRAME is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the CONTROLS, DYNSRC, LOOP, LOOPDELAY, START, and/or VRML attributes are used with the IMG element, displays a message that the attributes are Internet Explorer specific and may be removed in future versions.
  • If INS is used, displays a message that INS is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If LABEL is used, displays a message that LABEL is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If LEGEND is used, displays a message that LEGEND is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If MARQUEE is used, displays a message that MARQUEE is Internet Explorer and WebTV specific.
  • If OBJECT is used, displays a message that OBJECT is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If Q is used, displays a message that Q is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the BORDERCOLOR, BORDERCOLORDARK, BORDERCOLORLIGHT, FRAME, and/or RULES attributes are used with the TABLE element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If the BORDERCOLOR, BORDERCOLORDARK, and/or BORDERCOLORLIGHT attributes are used with a TD, TH, or TR element, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
  • If TBODY, THEAD, or TFOOT is used, displays a message that it is Internet Explorer specific.
Flag 2 (Netscape specific messages)
  • If the ARCHIVE attribute is used with the APPLET element, displays a message that ARCHIVE is Netscape specific.
  • If BLINK is used, displays a message that it is Netscape specific.
  • If the MARGINHEIGHT or MARGINWIDTH attribute is used with the BODY element, displays a message that it is Netscape specific.
  • If the POINT-SIZE or WEIGHT attribute is used with the FONT element, displays a message that it is Netscape specific.
  • If the BORDER attribute is used with the INPUT element, displays a message that it is Netscape specific. (New 200007251)
  • If KEYGEN is used, displays a message that KEYGEN is Netscape specific.
  • If MULTICOL is used, displays a message that MULTICOL is Netscape specific.
  • If SPACER is used, displays a message that SPACER is Netscape and WebTV specific.
  • If the HSPACE or VSPACE attribute is used with the TABLE element, displays a message that it is Netscape specific.
  • If the BACKGROUND attribute is used with the TR element, displays a message that BACKGROUND is Netscape specific.
Flag 3 (Deprecation messages)
  • If APPLET is used, displays a deprecation message that APPLET is deprecated in favor of the OBJECT element.
  • If DIR is used, displays a deprecation message that DIR is deprecated in favor of a UL list.
  • If the VERSION attribute is used with the HTML element, displays a deprecation message.
  • If ISINDEX is used, displays a deprecation message that ISINDEX is deprecated in favor of an INPUT element.
  • If MENU is used, displays a deprecation message that MENU is deprecated in favor of a UL list.
Flag 4 (Obsolete messages)
  • If BQ is used, displays a message that BQ is obsolete in favor of BLOCKQUOTE.
  • If COMMENT is used, displays a warning that COMMENT is obsolete and is Internet Explorer and Mosaic specific, and that <!-- --> should be used instead.
  • If FN is used, displays a message that FN is obsolete.
  • If LISTING is used, displays a message that LISTING is obsolete in favor of PRE.
  • If NEXTID is used, displays a message that its use is not recommended.
  • If NOTE is used, displays a message that NOTE is obsolete.
  • If PLAINTEXT is used, displays a message that PLAINTEXT is obsolete in favor of PRE.
  • If XMP is used, displays a message that XMP is obsolete in favor of PRE.
Flag 5 (General compatibility messages)
  • If a mailto link is used in an HREF attribute for an A tag and includes extra information (such as a subject or body), displays a message that this may cause a user to have problems when trying to send email with software that does not support extra information in a mailto link.
  • If ABSBOTTOM, ABSMIDDLE, TEXTBOTTOM, TEXTMIDDLE, or TEXTTOP is used as an attribute value, displays a message that these values are not HTML 4.01 values and may not be supported by standards compliant browsers. (New 200110191)
  • If EMBED is used, displays a message that it is not supported by HTML 4.0 and recommends using the OBJECT element instead. (New 200007071)
  • Displays a message if the non-HTML ALIGN, BORDERCOLOR, and/or FRAMESPACING attributes are used with FRAME.
  • If FRAMESET is used, displays a message that older browsers and text-only browsers may not support frames. (New 200007171)
  • Displays a message if the non-HTML BORDER, BORDERCOLOR, FRAMEBORDER, and/or FRAMESPACING attributes are used with FRAMESET.
  • If PALETTE is used with the EMBED element, displays a messages that it only has an effect on the Windows platform.
  • Displays a message if the non-HTML HSPACE and/or VSPACE attributes are used with INPUT. (New 200006131)
  • If TYPE=FILE is used with the INPUT element, displays a message that it is only supported by Internet Explorer 4.0 and above and Netscape 3.0 and above.
  • If the INPUT, SELECT, and/or TEXTAREA element is used, displays a message that it may not be displayed by some browsers if it is not in a form.
  • If MAP is used, displays a message that it may not be supported by older browsers such as HTML 2.0 browsers. (New 200007171)
  • If NOBR is used, displays a message that it is only supported by Internet Explorer and Netscape.
  • If NOFRAMES is used in a BODY section, displays a messages that it is not supported by many browsers, even those supporting frames. (New 200007171)
  • If the WIDTH attribute is used with the PRE element, displays a message that it is not widely supported. (New 200007121)
  • If SOUND is used, displays a message that it is only supported by Mosaic.
  • If SPAN is used, displays a message that it is not supported by Internet Explorer 3.0- and Netscape 3.0-. (New 200009221)
  • If the STYLE element or STYLE attribute is used, displays a message that style information is only supported by Internet Explorer 3.0+ and Netscape 4.0+.
  • If TABLE is used, displays a message that older browsers and nonvisual browsers may have problems using this element. (New 200007221)
  • If HEIGHT is used with the TABLE element, displays a message that it is not an HTML 4.01 element and that it is not well supported. (New 200101241)
  • If the BACKGROUND attribute is used with TD or TH, displays a message that it is supported by Internet Explorer 3.0+ and Netscape 4.0+ and may not work with other browsers.
  • If WRAP is used with the TEXTAREA element, displays a messages that it is only supported by Internet Explorer 4.0+ and Netscape 3.0+. Also included is information about the values that WRAP can take with regards to the 4.0+ browsers.
  • If TFOOT is used, displays a message that some browsers may render the table footer before the table body. (New 200007221)
  • If WBR is used, displays a message that it is only supported by Internet Explorer and Netscape.
Flag 6 (Helpful tip messages)
  • creating borderless frames
  • recommends using the TEXTAREA element instead of TYPE=TEXTAREA with an INPUT element
  • using EMBED to substitute for BGSOUND
  • If TOPMARGIN is used in BODY, suggests that you may also need to use MARGINHEIGHT to create the effect that you want in Netscape.
  • If LEFTMARGIN is used in BODY, suggests that you may also need to use MARGINWIDTH to create the effect that you want in Netscape.
  • If MARGINHEIGHT is used in BODY, suggests that you may also need to use TOPMARGIN to create the effect that you want in Internet Explorer.
  • If MARGINWIDTH is used in BODY, suggests that you may also need to use LEFTMARGIN to create the effect that you want in Internet Explorer.
  • If INPUT with TYPE=IMAGE is used without the BORDER attribute, suggests that BORDER=0 be used so that the image is drawn with no border in both Internet Explorer and Netscape. (New 200007251)
  • If NOBR is used, displays a message about possible problems using this element and recommends that you be careful. (New 200007201)
  • If the NOWRAP table attribute is used, displays a message about possible problems using this attribute and recommends that you be careful. (New 200007161)
Flag 7 (Style messages)
  • Displays a message when skipping heading levels (for example, using H4 before using H1, H2, and H3); however, allows the first heading to be any level without displaying an out of order message.
  • If APPLET is used without the ALT attribute, displays a message that ALT should be used.
  • If BGPROPERTIES=FIXED is used with the BODY element, displays a message stating that it is considered to be bad style and to be annoying.
  • If BLINK is used, displays a message stating that some consider using BLINK to be bad style and to be annoying.
  • If WIDTH is "0*" for COL or COLGROUP then displays a message that this may prevent user agents from rendering the table incrementally and therefore may be considered bad style, especially for large tables. (New 200102231)
  • If IMAGE is used without all of the following attributes: ALT, HEIGHT, WIDTH, displays a message that these attributes should all be used.
  • If INPUT with TYPE=IMAGE is used without all of the following attributes: ALT, HEIGHT, WIDTH, displays a message that these attributes should all be used.
  • If MARQUEE is used without the HEIGHT attribute, displays a message that it should be used.
  • If U is used, displays a message that underlining may confuse visitors because most browsers underline hyperlinks. (New 200007121)
Flag 8 (Search engine messages)
  • If FRAMESET is used, displays a message that frames may cause problems with site indexing by search engines. (New 200102211)
  • If a META DESCRIPTION tag is not used, displays a comment recommending that it be used.
  • If a META KEYWORDS tag is not used, displays a comment recommending that it be used.
  • If <META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" ... >' is used, displays a message stating that search engines may penalize sites that use refresh.
Flag 9 (More deprecation messages)

These are deprecation messages for certain HTML 4.0 deprecated tags and attributes that are still considered to be in high use or still useful. Many authors may still be using these attributes and may want to uncheck this flag.

  • If the BASEFONT, CENTER, FONT, S, STRIKE, and/or U element is used, displays a deprecation message.
  • If the ALIGN attribute that can have a value of LEFT, CENTER, RIGHT, or JUSTIFY is used, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007121)
  • If the BACKGROUND, TEXT, LINK, VLINK, and/or ALINK attributes are used with the BODY element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007121)
  • If the ALIGN attribute is used with the CAPTION element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007161)
  • If the CLEAR attribute that can have a value of ALL, LEFT, NONE, or RIGHT is used, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007121)
  • If the COMPACT attribute is used with the DL element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007151)
  • If the ALIGN, NOSHADE, SIZE, and/or WIDTH attributes are used with the HR element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007121)
  • If the ALIGN attribute is used with the LEGEND element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007191)
  • If the TYPE, and/or VALUE attributes are used with the LI element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007151)
  • If the COMPACT, START, and/or TYPE attributes are used with the OL element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007151)
  • If the WIDTH attribute is used with the PRE element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007121)
  • If the ALIGN and/or BGCOLOR attribute is used with the TABLE element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007161, BGCOLOR new 200103141)
  • If the BGCOLOR, HEIGHT, NOWRAP, and/or WIDTH attribute is used with the TD or TH element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007161)
  • If the BGCOLOR attribute is used with the TR element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007161)
  • If the COMPACT and/or TYPE attributes are used with the UL element, displays a deprecation message. (New 200007151)
Flag 10
  • Displays a comment about how you can disable certain messages by unchecking validator flags. You will probably want to disable this message by unchecking flag 10. The reason for this message is to make you aware of how easy it is to disable messages that you may not want to see.
Flag 11
  • Enables sound, such as playing a sound if there are any errors or warnings. Also plays a different sound if there are no errors or warnings. Uncheck this flag if you want to disable these sounds for any reason.
Flag 12
  • When unchecked, does not change the priority of HTML Validator before validating a document. This means that HTML Validator usually runs at normal priority. When checked, the priority will be set to low before each validation if HTML Validator believes that it is best that it should work in the background (for instance, when HTML Validator is run from command line parameters). This will more easily allow you to do work with other applications while CSE HTML Validator processes documents in the background.
Flag 13

Some users may want to uncheck this flag. However, it is recommended that you use ALT for IMG and AREA elements and that you leave this flag checked.

  • If the HTML 4.0 category is active, displays a warning when ALT is not used with an IMG elements.
  • If the HTML 4.0 category is active, displays a warning when ALT is not used with an AREA element.
Flag 14
  • When the validator is generating an easily parsed output file and this flag is set, displays a status comment containing information such as the number of tag names, comments, entities, etc. (Requires CSE 3.9910 or later)
Flag 15
  • If a PICS-Label is not present in a META tag in the HEAD section of a document, displays a message about PICS-Labels and ICRA.
Flag 16
  • Displays an error message that HTML 4.0 requires the TYPE attribute for the script element when TYPE is missing. This flag lets you disable this message because current browsers may have problems with this attribute or do not use it.
Flag 17
  • Displays a comment message when tables may be too deeply nested and cause a problem.
Flag 18
  • Displays a warning message if LI is used outside of a UL, OL, DIR, or MENU list.
Flag 19
  • Displays a comment if NATURALSIZEFLAG is used in the document (usually added by Adobe PageMill).
  • Displays a comment if MSIMAGELIST is used in the document (usually added by Microsoft FrontPage 2000).
Flag 20 (SMIL style messages)
  • Displays a message if the TITLE attribute is not used with a SMIL element where its use is recommended.
Flag 21 (WebTV specific messages)
  • If the SELECTED attribute is used with the A element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If AUDIOSCOPE is used, displays a message that AUDIOSCOPE is WebTV specific.
  • If BLACKFACE is used, displays a message that BLACKFACE is WebTV specific.
  • If the CREDITS, INSTRUCTIONS, and/or LOGO attributes are used with the BODY element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If the EFFECT and/or TRANSPARENCY attributes are used with the FONT element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If the INVERTBORDER attribute is used with the HR element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If the SELECTED and/or TRANSPARENCY attributes are used with the IMG element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If the BGCOLOR, CURSOR, and/or USESTYLE attributes are used with the INPUT or TEXTAREA elements, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If MARQUEE is used, displays a message that MARQUEE is Internet Explorer and WebTV specific.
  • If the AUTOACTIVATE, BGCOLOR, SELCOLOR, TEXT, and/or USESTYLE attributes are used with the SELECT element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If SPACER is used, displays a message that SPACER is Netscape and WebTV specific.
  • If the GRADANGLE, GRADCOLOR, and/or TRANSPARENCY attributes are used with the TABLE, TD, or TH element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If the TRANSPARENCY attribute is used with the TR element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
  • If the TRANSPARENCY attribute is used with the MARQUEE element, displays a message that it is WebTV specific.
Flag 22
  • Displays a warning when the ALIGN attribute is used without the WIDTH attribute in an HR element.
Flag 23 (WebTV Comments)
  • Displays a comment about optimizations when the TRANSPARENCY attribute is set to 50, if the TRANSPARENCY attribute is used.
Flag 24
  • Displays a warning message if the "html" element is used without a DOCTYPE (document type declaration). Displays different messages for HTML and XHTML documents.
  • Displays a comment message for XHTML documents if the "html" element was used without an XML declaration.
  • Displays a comment message for WML documents if the "wml" element was used without an XML declaration.
Flag 25
  • Displays a message if an HTML document is over 30,000 bytes and suggests that some people may consider the document too large.
Flag 26
  • If a Content-Type is not present in a META tag in the HEAD section of a document, displays a message about using a Content-Type META tag.
Flag 27
  • Displays a message that HTML 4.01 allows the NAME attribute with a FORM element for backward compatibility and also recommends using the ID attribute to identify elements if the NAME attribute is used with a FORM element and the HTML 4.0 category is active.
Flag 28
  • Displays a warning message if an ADDRESS, BLOCKQUOTE, CENTER, DIR, DIV, DL, FIELDSET, FORM, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, HR, ISINDEX, MENU, NOFRAMES, NOSCRIPT, OL, P, PRE, TABLE, or UL tag is contained within an inline element (like B, I, etc., except for FONT-- see Flag 30).
Flag 29 is no longer used.
Flag 30
  • Displays a warning message if an ADDRESS, BLOCKQUOTE, CENTER, DIR, DIV, DL, FIELDSET, FORM, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, HR, ISINDEX, MENU, NOFRAMES, NOSCRIPT, OL, P, PRE, TABLE, or UL tag is contained within a FONT tag.
Flag 31
  • Displays a message if any of the following tags are contained within another tag of the same type: ABBR, ACRONYM, B, BIG, CITE, CODE, DFN, EM, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, I, KBD, Q, S, SAMP, SMALL, STRIKE, STRONG, SUB, SUP, TT, U, VAR. Example: "<B> Bold <B> Bold again </B></B>" would generate a message for the second B tag.
Flag 32
  • Displays a warning message if a HEAD section does not contain a title (using the TITLE element; required by HTML 4.0).
  • Displays a warning message when an HTML document does not contain a HEAD section (required by HTML 4.0).
Flag 33
  • Displays a message if certain attributes have values that have leading or trailing spaces, such as the HREF, NAME, and TARGET attributes for A, and the SRC attribute for IMG.
Flag 34
  • Displays a warning message if it appears that an absolute URL is missing the protocol (like HREF="www.htmlvalidator.com" would be missing "http://" in front of "www.htmlvalidator.com")
Flag 35
  • Displays a message when linking to an ID link destination that browser support is currently poor for this.
Flag 36
  • Displays a message when the STYLESRC attribute is used with the BODY element. STYLESRC is not an HTML element but is used by Microsoft FrontPage and FrontPage server extensions.
Flag 37
  • Displays a message that an XHTML, SMIL, RealText, or WML document was detected if HTML Validator detects that type of document.
Flag 38
  • Displays a warning about backward compatibility when a quick close tag is used without a leading space for XHTML documents. This flag overrides the corresponding setting in the validator options for XHTML documents only.
Flag 39
  • Performs email address syntax checking and displays a warning when an email address does not pass the check.
Flag 40 is no longer used.
Flag 41
  • Displays a message when DIV or SPAN is used without any attributes. (New 200006131)
Flag 42
  • Displays a warning when text is used in a DIR or MENU list and it is not in an LI section. (New 200006181)
Flag 43
  • Displays a warning if the HTML 4.0 category is active, the STYLE attribute has been used, and a default style sheet language has not been specified in the HEAD section. (New 200007121)
Flag 44
  • If TABLE is used without a CAPTION element, displays a message to consider using the CAPTION element. (New 200007161)
Flag 45
  • If TYPE=TEXTAREA is used with the INPUT element, displays a warning message that it is not HTML compliant and to consider using the TEXTAREA element instead. (New 200007181)
Flag 46 (Accessibility messages)
  • If FRAMESET is used, displays an accessibility message about using frames. (New 200007241)
  • If TABLE is used without a SUMMARY attribute, displays a message to consider using the SUMMARY attribute. (New 200006121)
Flag 47 (Using lists to indent)
  • This flags generates messages if the UL or OL element is not used properly. For example, when it is used for indenting without using any LI elements or when it contains text that is not in an LI tag. If you incorrectly use these elements to indent, then you may want to disable this flag to keep certain error and warning messages from appearing. Of course it is better to not incorrectly use these elements or any other element. You should use style sheets for indenting. (New 200008161)
Flag 48
  • Displays a message if no option is explicitly selected by using the SELECTED attribute with an option in a SELECT tag. (New 200008171)
Flag 49
  • Displays a warning message if the ACTION attribute is not used with the FORM element as required by HTML 4.01. You may want to disable this flag if you use JavaScript events (like OnClick) instead of the ACTION attribute. (New 200008241)
Flag 50
  • Unused in v5.00.
Flag 51 (Spaces in URLs)
  • Displays a warning message when space characters are used in URLs. Suggests using the underscore (_) character instead or encoding spaces as "%20". (New 200009061)
Flag 52 (Incorrect URL encoding)
  • Displays a warning message when the '%' character appears in a URL and is not followed by a two digit hexadecimal number. This may indicate improper URL encoding. (New 200009061)
Flag 53
  • Displays an error message if the NAME (002) attribute is used and its value does not begin with a letter (A-Z or a-z) and consist of the following characters: (A-Z), (a-z), (0-9), hyphens (-), underscores (_), colons (:), and periods (.). (New 200009121)
Flag 54
  • If TABLE is used without the WIDTH attribute, displays a message that using this attribute is good style and may cause the table and page to render faster. (New 200009221)
Flag 55
  • Displays a warning message if certain block-level elements are used within certain other block-level elements, like using H2 or UL in a heading tag. (New 200009241)
Flag 56
  • Displays a warning message if a block-level element like TABLE or H1 is used within a P tag that has been explicitly closed. To benefit from this checking and for good style, you should close your P tags. (New 200012261)
Flag 57
  • Displays an estimate of the document's transfer time for various transfer rates based on the document's estimated byte size. Due to inefficiencies and overhead, time is calculated assuming that one byte requires a rate of 10 bits per second (not 8 bps) to transfer that byte in one second. 1 Kbps is considered equivalent to 1000 bps (not 1024 bps). (New 200012181)
Flag 58
  • Uncheck this flag to run the validation in "errors only" mode. In this mode, only errors are displayed and some "less important" errors may not be displayed, such as when an attribute value is not quoted. Use this mode to target significant errors. (New 200012211)
Flag 59
  • Uncheck this flag to run the validation in "errors and warnings only" mode. In this mode, only errors and warnings are displayed and some "less important" errors and warnings may not be displayed. This mode is more thorough than "errors only" mode. (New 200012211)
Flag 60
  • Displays a warning message if HTML Validator thinks that an A HREF value may be in an invalid form (such as using htp:// instead of http://). (New 200012211)
Flag 61
  • Checks the spelling of certain attribute values, like the values for the ALT and SUMMARY attributes. The value for CONTENT is also checked for META NAME=DESCRIPTION tags. Spell checking must be enabled or this flag has no effect. (New 200101031)
Flag 62 (Netscape specific warning messages)

These messages have been made warnings and moved to a new flag because we believe that authors should abandon the use of these proprietary tags. This is due to their lack of standards compliance and the tags being dropped from Netscape 6+.

  • If ILAYER is used, displays a warning message that ILAYER is Netscape 4.x specific (and doesn't work with Netscape 6+). Recommends against using this element. Previously under flag 2.
  • If LAYER is used, displays a warning message that LAYER is Netscape 4.x specific (and doesn't work with Netscape 6+). Recommends against using this element. Previously under flag 2.
Flag 63
  • Displays a error message if it appears that an invalid charset is specified in a CONTENT-TYPE attribute value in a META tag. (New 200106131)
Flag 64
  • Uncheck this flag to override and disable the "Check entities in attribute values" option in the Validator Engine Options. If this flag is checked, then the setting for "Check entities in attribute values" option is not overridden and this flag has no effect. (New 200108201)
Flag 65
  • Checks the DOCTYPE against a list of recognized DOCTYPEs and generates a warning message if the DOCTYPE is not in the list.
  • Recognized DOCTYPEs are
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/strict.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/frameset.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
    • <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
    • <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">
    • <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
  • When checking to see if a DOCTYPE is recognized, a case sensitive compare is made.
  • Multiple contiguous whitespace characters are converted to a single space character so that valid DOCTYPEs with multiple contiguous whitespace characters or line breaks can still match a recognized DOCTYPE.
  • Note that a DOCTYPE may still be valid if it doesn't pass this test. If a valid DOCTYPE doesn't pass this test, then you can 1) reformat the DOCTYPE to pass the test (so that it matches one of the above), 2) ignore the warning, or 3) disable the flag so that the test is not performed.
  • To add a new recognized DOCTYPE, goto the Configuration Editor and use the setValueString(3,DOCTYPEstring) function in the onConfigLoad() function. Do not include the '<' character at the beginning of the DOCTYPE or the '>' character at the end of the DOCTYPE.
  • (New 200108201)

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT SECTION 508 ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS: CSE HTML Validator cannot and does not check for complete compliance. It is the web developer's duty to ensure total compliance. However, CSE HTML Validator is designed to help a web developer create or redesign documents so that they are compliant.

Flag 66 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Displays a message if the APPLET, AREA, or INPUT element is used without the ALT attribute.
  • Displays a message if the FRAME, or IFRAME element is used without the ALT attribute.
  • Displays a message if the IMG element is used without the ALT and/or LONGDESC attribute(s).
Flag 67 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Displays a message to use redundant text links if the IMG element is used with the ISMAP attribute.
Flag 68 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Displays a message to use client-side image maps instead of server-side if the IMG element is used with the ISMAP attribute.
Flag 69 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Displays a message to use row and column headers for data tables when the TABLE element is used.
Flag 70 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Displays a message if the FRAME or IFRAME element is used without the TITLE attribute.
Flag 71 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Displays a message to use markup to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers when the TABLE element is used.
Flag 72 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Generates messages to help comply with Section 508 Accessibility Standards. For more information, please see http://www.section508.gov/. (New 200110301)
  • Uncheck this flag to disable all section 508 accessibility flags. Use this as a shortcut to disabling each individual section 508 flag if you do not want to generate section 508 accessibility messages.
Flag 73 (Section 508 Standards)
  • Uncheck this flag to disable the message indicating whether the section 508 accessibility messages are enabled or not. This message also provides a shortcut to enabling and disabling the section 508 accessibility messages if using the integrated editor. This is because flag 72 can be disabled or enabled by right-clicking on the message that this flag generates.
Remaining Flags
  • As of the time of this writing, the remaining flags that are not listed are not currently used and are for future use.

Notes

  • If you want to disable all tag name program functionality (not recommended), you can uncheck the Enable programs validator engine option. This will cause any messages (such as the above messages) generated by a tag name program to not be displayed. It will also speed up the validation engine. However, disabling the tag name programs may significantly reduce the effectiveness of the validation. NOTE: The tag name program feature is considered to be a powerful feature of CSE HTML Validator Professional, and therefore should not be disabled.
  • If you want to disable a tag name program for a specific tag name, you can use the Programs Tab in the Configuration Editor to select the tag name with the program you wish to disable and then uncheck the Enable open program for tag or Enable close program for tag option.

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Copyright © 1997-2001 AI Internet Solutions. Tue, Nov 06 2001