Validator Tips

• Validating the referring URL
• Validating password-protected documents
• Validating by FTP
• Choosing a DOCTYPE
• Using a custom HTML or SGML DTD
• Using a custom XHTML or XML DTD
• Using character encodings

Validating the Referring URL

Validation of the referring URL allows authors to conveniently use the same HTML as a validation link on any page:

<A
HREF="http://www.htmlhelp.com/cgi-bin/validate.cgi?url=referer">Validate
me</A>

To include the document's source, use the following:

<A
HREF="http://www.htmlhelp.com/cgi-bin/validate.cgi?url=referer&amp;input=yes">Validate
me</A>

One may also use "referrer" in place of "referer".

Validating Password-Protected Documents

To validate password-protected documents, use a URL of the form "http://user:pass@www.yourdomain.com/foo/bar.html". (While this is not a technically valid URL, it is accepted by the WDG HTML Validator for convenience.)

Validating by FTP

The validation by URL form supports HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP. For anonymous FTP, use a URL of the form "ftp://ftp.yourdomain.com/foo/bar.html". If you need a user name and password, use a URL of the form "ftp://user:pass@ftp.yourdomain.com/foo/bar.html".

Using a Custom XHTML or XML DTD

By default, the Validator assumes that a custom DTD is HTML or SGML. If your custom DTD is XHTML or XML, then you need to include the Validator's hidden "xml" option. When validating a URL, you can specify this option by appending "&xml=yes" to the URL of the validation results.

With other validation methods, you need to use your own local validation form that includes the "xml" option (typically using <input type="checkbox" name="xml" value="yes">).