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The information herein is presented in the belief that it is both useful and accurate; however, no warranty is given for its accuracy. Please report any inaccuracies you find to me at dsb@killerbunnies.org.

The opinions expressed in this page are entirely those of the author except where otherwise indicated. This page is not affiliated in any way with the University of Alberta, Gerald Oskoboiny or the World Wide Web Consortium, and should not be taken to represent the positions or opinions thereof.

The Unofficial `Kinder, Gentler HTML Validator' FAQ

The Kinder, Gentler Validator (hereinafter "KGV"), which has also been pressed into service as the official W3C HTML Validation Service, is Gerald Oskoboiny's answer to the HALSoft HTML validation service (now the WebTechs HTML validation service), sporting the latest SGML parsing technology, a friendlier user interface, and error messages that are significantly easier to understand. KGV does have its own quirks, though, and some of its error messages still bear explanation. I've gathered here some of the questions I expect to be most frequently asked about KGV, as well as explanations of some of the more common error messages. Some of the questions are carried over directly from the Unofficial WebTechs Validator FAQ, since the two validators serve a similar purpose and operate similarly.

Section 1: KGV and other validators

• What does KGV do?
• Why should I validate my HTML pages?
• What other validators are there?
• How does KGV work?
• What do the options on the KGV main page do?
• How do I set KGV to validate in HTML2/HTML3/Netscape mode?
• Can I install a copy of KGV locally?
• Help! KGV spewed a zillion error messages on my page!
• I used the Netscape document type, but KGV still doesn't like my tables.
• I love your validator/I have a question about your validator.

Section 2: HTML and SGML

• What is SGML?
• What is a DTD?
• What is this DOCTYPE thing KGV keeps pestering me for?
• My document uses _______. Which DOCTYPE should I use?
• What's the correct syntax for HTML comments? (or: Why does my document come up blank on some browsers?)

Section 3: KGV's error messages

• entity end not allowed in comment
• name start character invalid: only s and comment allowed in comment declaration
• invalid comment declaration: found name character outside comment but inside comment declaration
• unknown declaration type `FOO'
• an attribute value must be a literal unless it contains only name characters
• character `X' not allowed in attribute specification list
• length of attribute value must not exceed LITLEN less NORMSEP (1022)
• element `FOO' undefined
• document type does not allow element "FOO" here
• document type does not allow element "FOO" here; assuming missing "BAR" start-tag
• there is no attribute `FOO'
• `FOO' is not a member of the group specified in the declared value of this attribute
• syntax of attribute value does not conform to declared value
• value of attribute "FOO" invalid: "#" cannot start a name
• `FOO' is not a member of a group specified for any attribute
• required attribute `FOO' not specified
• end tag for `FOO' omitted, but its declaration does not permit this
• end tag for element `FOO' which is not open
• end tag for `FOO' which is not finished
• start tag for `FOO' omitted, but its declaration does not permit this
• general entity `FOO' not defined and no default entity
• non SGML character number ###
• `####' is not a valid character number
• cannot generate system identifier for entity `HTML'
• ld.so: call to undefined procedure _strerror from 0xd80f4

Naturally, this page is (all together now) Under Construction. If you have a question that you think should be answered on this page, or additional information you think I should add, or if (gods forbid) I have something wrong, please e-mail me at dsb@killerbunnies.org.

My home page is thataway.

Validate me!

Last update to site: 04 Apr 99
Last update to this ToC: 08 Aug 98

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