[thelist] popgurls preview

[aardvark]

On 15 Jan 2005 at 22:08, Richard Bennett wrote:
[...]
> Except one is well-formed, and one is not, which makes a huge difference, 
> especially if you try to parse a page in an alternative viewer. Something 
> simple like this:
> <ul>
> 	<li>list entry.
> </ul>
> Is so much harder to parse than :
> <ul>
> 	<li>list entry.</li>
> </ul>
> As the second can be handled nicely by the xml tools already available.

granted, but i close my <li>s... i doubt i'll need to import this 
into any XML tool, but if i did need to, it's a simple regex to 
convert... but since the data is independent of the layout, i can get 
the data in any format anyway...

> > also, since the CMS that will drive this outputs HTML instead of
> > XHTML, it would make the whole exercise kinda pointless...
> Yeah, that's true, although I see it as a good habit too - when people I work 
> with send me html pages, the first thing I do is validate them xhtml, if they 
> pass I know they put in the necessary effort.
> Same with 508 validation, as small effort for a lot of good karma :o)

go for it... you'll see it fails on non-self-terminating elements, 
and that's about it... the 508 validation will require a hands-on 
check, but you'll see i added things like the UK accesskey standards 
for some of the main links...

> Which CMS is it running on BTW?

good question... i don't recall... a friend of the popgurls crew is 
doing that work... division of labor is good when you're working for 
nuthin'... 

> > > Besides, all assistive technologies will have an easier time parsing
> > > well-formed content.>
> > well, i believe the content is well-formed, regardless of the DTD...
> From an xhtml point of view I mean, having closing tags everywhere, or 
> autoclosing like <br />

now i'm curious... based on the assistive technologies i have access 
to (center for the blind, for example), none of those tools have a 
problem with the code unless it's div/table soup (which isn't how i 
write code)...

to what tools are you referring?  what sort of real-world impact does 
a non-self-terminated tag have on them?

i'm on joe clark's accessibility mailing list, too, and i haven't 
heard any discussion of that nature... more along the lines of non-
semantic/structural problems (which i don't believe i have)...