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diff --git a/htdocs/docs/help.html b/htdocs/docs/help.html index 71e31ec..781aab0 100755 --- a/htdocs/docs/help.html +++ b/htdocs/docs/help.html @@ -1,17 +1,63 @@ -<!--#set var="revision" value="\$Id: help.html,v 1.7 2002-10-23 23:11:30 link Exp $" ---><!--#set var="date" value="\$Date: 2002-10-23 23:11:30 $" +<!--#set var="revision" value="\$Id: help.html,v 1.8 2002-11-06 02:45:20 ot Exp $" +--><!--#set var="date" value="\$Date: 2002-11-06 02:45:20 $" --><!--#set var="title" value="Help for The W3C MarkUp Validation Service" --><!--#set var="relroot" value="../" --><!--#include virtual="../header.html" --> - <div id="skip"> - <h2 id="what-is-it">What does The Validator do?</h2> - The Validator is sort of like <code>lint</code> for C. It compares +<div id="toc"> +<h2>Table of contents</h2> +<ul> + <li>About the Markup Validator + <ul> + <li> + <a href="#what-is-it">What is the Markup Validator and what does it do?</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#why-validate">Why validate?</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#others">What other validators are there?</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#how">How does The Validator work?</a> + </li> + </ul> + </li> + <li>Using this service + <ul> + <li> + <a href="#manual">How do I use the Markup validator?</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#errors">What are these error messages?</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#munged-doctype">Many error messages? Don't panic.</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#cleanup">I don't want error messages, I want you to clean up my page!</a> + </li> + </ul> + </li> + +</ul> + + + +<div id="skip"> +<h2 id=#about">About the Markup Validator</h2> + <h3 id="what-is-it">What is the Markup Validator and what does it do?</h3> + <p> + The Markup Validator is a free tool and service that checks the + syntax of (X)HTML documents.</p> + <p> + The Validator is sort of like <code>lint</code> for C. It compares your HTML document to the defined syntax of HTML and reports any discrepancies. - </div> - <div> - <h2 id="why-validate">Why should I validate my HTML pages?</h2> + </p> + <p><a href="../about.html">Learn more</a> about the Markup Validator.</p> + + <h3 id="why-validate">Why should I validate my HTML pages?</h3> <p> One of the important maxims of computer programming is: <q>Be conservative in what you produce; be liberal in what you accept.</q> @@ -31,48 +77,82 @@ sure your pages are legal HTML. The best way to do that is by running your documents through one or more HTML validators. </p> - </div> - <div><h2 id="others">What other validators are there?</h2><p>FIXME</p></div> - <div> - <h2 id="how">How does The Validator work?</h2> - The Validator is based on <a href="http://www.jclark.com/">James + + <h3 id="others">What other validators are there?</h3> + <p> + We're doing our best to provide clear and reliable results as well as + a good interface with the Markup Validator, but for some reason you + may want to check other validators. Here are a few choices: + </p> + <ul> + <li><a href="http://valet.webthing.com/page/">Page Valet</a>, part of the + <a href="http://valet.webthing.com/">Site Valet</a> suite.</li> + <li><a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/">WDG's HTML validator</a></li> + </ul> + + <p> + Looking for validators at W3C, but not the Markup Validator? + Check out the list of <a href="http://www.w3.org/QA/Tools/#validators">validators at W3C</a>, + including well-known <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/">CSS validator</a>, + <a href="http://validator.w3.org/checklink">link checker</a>, etc. + </p> + + + <h3 id="how">How does The Validator work?</h3> + <p> + The Validator is based on <a href="http://www.jclark.com/">James Clark</a>'s <code><a href="http://www.jclark.com/sp/">nsgmls</a></code> SGML parser. The Validator itself is a CGI script that fetches your URL, passes it through <code>nsgmls</code>, and post-processes the resulting error list for easier reading. - </div> - <div> - <h2 id="choosing-dtd">How do I set The Validator to validate in - HTML2/HTML3/Netscape mode?</h2> - Unlike WebTechs, The Validator does not allow you to select a document - type on the fly. If your document is not intended to be HTML - 2.0-compliant, you must add a corresponding <code>DOCTYPE</code> - declaration to your document; see <a href="sgml.html#doctype">the - section on <code>DOCTYPE</code></a> for more information. If your - document does not have a <code>DOCTYPE</code> declaration, The - Validator will assume an HTML 4.0 document type (and will tell - you it is doing so). - </div> - <div> - <h2 id="munged-doctype">Help! The Validator spewed a zillion error - messages on my page!</h2> - <p> - Don't panic. Did The Validator complain about your - <code>DOCTYPE</code> declaration (or lack thereof)? Make sure your - document has a syntactically correct <code>DOCTYPE</code> - declaration, as described in the <a href="sgml.html#doctype">section - on <code>DOCTYPE</code></a>, and make sure it correctly identifies - the type of HTML you're using. Then run it through The Validator - again; if you're lucky, you should get a lot fewer errors. - </p> - <p> - If this doesn't help, then you may be experiencing a cascade failure - — one error that gets The Validator so confused that it can't - make sense of the rest of your page. Try correcting the first few - errors and running your page through The Validator again. - </p> - </div> + </p> +</div> + + + +<div> +<h2 id="using">Using this service</h2> + + <h3 id="manual">How do I use this service?</h3> + <p> + Most probably, you will want to use the online Markup Validation service. + Read the <a href="users.html">user's manual</a> for further help with this + service. + </p> + </p> + If, for some reason, you prefer running your own instance of the Markup Validator, + check out our <a href="devel.html">developer's documentation</a>. + </p> + + <h3 id="errors">What are these error messages?</h3> + + <h3 id="munged-doctype">Many error messages? Don't panic.</h3> + <p> + Don't panic. Did The Validator complain about your + <code>DOCTYPE</code> declaration (or lack thereof)? Make sure your + document has a syntactically correct <code>DOCTYPE</code> + declaration, as described in the <a href="sgml.html#doctype">section + on <code>DOCTYPE</code></a>, and make sure it correctly identifies + the type of HTML you're using. Then run it through The Validator + again; if you're lucky, you should get a lot fewer errors. + </p> + <p> + If this doesn't help, then you may be experiencing a cascade failure + — one error that gets The Validator so confused that it can't + make sense of the rest of your page. Try correcting the first few + errors and running your page through The Validator again. + </p> + <p> + Be patient, with a little time and experience you will learn to use the + Markup Validator to clean up your HTML documents in no time. + </p> + + <h3 id="cleanup">I don't want error messages, I want you to clean up my page!</h3> + <p>The Markup Validator can not do this for you. You may want to have a look + at tools such as <a href="http://tidy.sourceforge.net">HTML Tidy</a>.</p> + + </div> <!--#include virtual="../footer.html" --> </body> </html> |