How often should you validate your HTML code?

1 Why validate HTML?

Validating your HTML code can help you avoid common mistakes and bugs that can affect the appearance, functionality, and usability of your web pages. For example, validation can detect missing or mismatched tags, broken links, incorrect syntax, or deprecated attributes. By fixing these errors, you can ensure that your web pages look and work as intended across different browsers and devices.

2 How to validate HTML?

There are many tools and methods to validate your HTML code. One of the most popular and reliable ones is the W3C Markup Validation Service, which is a free online tool that checks your HTML code against the official specifications and guidelines of the web. You can use this tool by entering the URL of your web page, uploading a file, or pasting the code directly. The tool will then generate a report with the errors and warnings found in your code, along with suggestions on how to fix them.

3 When to validate HTML?

When determining how often you should validate your HTML code, there is no definitive answer as it depends on the complexity, size, and frequency of changes of your web pages. Generally, it is recommended that you validate your HTML code during the development and testing stages of your web design project to catch and correct errors early. Additionally, it is important to validate your HTML code before launching or updating your website to make sure it is ready and optimized for the public. Lastly, you should validate your HTML code periodically, particularly if you use external sources or dynamic content that may affect your code such as plugins, widgets, or APIs.

4 What are the benefits of validating HTML?

Regularly validating your HTML code can bring several advantages, such as improving the performance and speed of your web pages by reducing unnecessary or invalid code. Additionally, it can enhance the accessibility and usability of your web pages by making them more compatible with web standards and best practices. Moreover, validating your HTML code can boost the SEO and ranking of your web pages by making them easier for search engines to crawl, index, and understand. This can increase your visibility and traffic on the web.

5 What are the limitations of validating HTML?

Validation of HTML code is a helpful tool for better web design, however, it is not a guarantee or a substitute for quality. Validation can only check the syntax and structure of your code, not the content, design, or functionality. To test and improve your web design, you should also use other methods and tools such as browser testing to check how your web pages look and work on different browsers and devices; user testing to get feedback from real users; and accessibility testing to check how your web pages comply with accessibility guidelines. Regular validation of HTML code can help avoid errors, ensure compatibility and consistency, and improve SEO and ranking on the web. However, validation alone is not enough to ensure a great web design. How often do you validate your HTML code? What other tools and methods do you use? Share your tips and experiences with us.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?