How important is XHTML validation? Only one of the top 20 blogs on the Internet validated without errors, with another topping out with a total of 630 validation errors. So is validation important. I think most of these A-list blogger’s would have you believe it isn’t. Check out the list:
Technorati Top 20
| Rank | Blog | XHTML Validation |
| 1 | Wordpress Development Blog | Passed validation |
| 2 | Arstechnica | Failed validation, 22 Errors |
| 3 | Lifehacker | Failed validation, 42 Errors |
| 4 | Gizmodo | Failed validation, 84 Errors |
| 5 | Perez Hilton | Failed validation, 99 Errors |
| 6 | Seth Godin | Failed validation, 113 Errors |
| 7 | Tree Hugger | Failed validation, 139 Errors |
| 8 | Engadget | Failed validation, 166 Errors |
| 9 | Readwriteweb | Failed validation, 178 Errors |
| 10 | Mashable | Failed validation, 178 Errors |
| 11 | icanhascheezburger | Failed validation, 228 Errors |
| 12 | Problogger | Failed validation, 284 Errors |
| 13 | TechCrunch | Failed validation, 288 Errors |
| 14 | TMZ | Failed validation, 298 Errors |
| 15 | Post Secret | Failed validation, 310 Errors |
| 16 | Huffingtonpost | Failed validation, 328 Errors |
| 17 | Official Google Blog | Failed validation, 329 Errors |
| 18 | Daily Kos | Failed validation, 397 Errors |
| 19 | Boingboing | Failed validation, 437 Errors |
| 20 | Blog di Beppe Grillo | Failed validation, 630 Errors |
The main reason validation is important is that Non-valid pages are relying on error-correction by a browser to display the page correctly, this will vary depending on the browser. I guess I share the sediments of most people on this topic, if the Official Google blog doesn’t validate, why should I care if mine doesn’t. There are many things that can cause errors, such as scripts, plug-ins and widgets. I feel as a blogger you need to weigh the value that these bring versus the value you loss by not having a valid XHTML page. Other validations issues such as not setting alt text for images are less forgivable and should be followed. What do you think?
Free Market Research Tool
great list — validation is important for user’s point of view to have them trust in the system.
Sydney
It’s really not that hard to have a validated blog. Sometimes mistakes slip through and a few errors are okay. But 300?
I lose respect for designers who don’t care enough to validate. Whenever I update or tweak a layout, I run a few pages through XHTML and CSS validators and make sure everything’s correct. To me, coding is important. I’d rather someone’s website be valid and look off in IE than it look perfect in the devil’s browser and have 300 errors.
By the way, Pingable.org has 274 errors.
Marc Klein
lol. Probably mine is just as bad but then again its not a leading blog. At least not yet
Simon
@ Sydney: I am well aware of the poor validation on Pingable, that’s what gave me the idea for the article, I decided to write the article instead of spending time fixing validation issues. It’s poor, but I really don’t have the time right now, at least I am in good company!
Jon Cardozo
It’s funny that even Google doesn’t care! It’s an interesting list nonetheless.
Sydney
I went through your source and most of your errors are very easily fixable. A whole bunch of them will disappear if you simply take out one tag that wasn’t necessary and wasn’t closed.
Would you like me to clean up your coding for you?
Simon
Thanks for the offer Sydney, I am actually in the process of having a new theme designed for this blog. I won one of the pro blogger birthday bash competitions, so that’s the main reason I haven’t bothered fixing the validation errors. Thanks for the very kind offer though
Steven Snell
I think validation is important to a degree. I validate the major pages of my site, but the blog I haven’t really worried about in the past. It’s hard to believe that some of these sites could have this many errors.
Niall Doherty
I find it’s easy to have your site validate when you launch, but after blogging for a while and throwing stuff up there when you’re in a hurry, it can get messy. WYSIWYG editors like TinyMCE often let invalid code sneak in there, especially if the person using it is a complete novice.
Firewalker
Hahaha… I got 11 errors, mostly because there were IE hacks which firefox can’t read.
CCNA Exploration
Pingable? Nice blog name.
web design new york
From our experience validation is very important it help us a lot with our SEO efforts
Wordpress Hosting
I never even bother with xhtml validation. My sites always have 100’s of errors which would take forever to correct
manu from Hostels Sydney
I really say thanks for your great comparison task.Its very helpful for me.thanks for posting it above.