Effectively Validate A Website

• What is Validation?• Why Validate Your Websites?• Validation Techniques• The Importance of W3C Validation• Validation Tools for Your WordPress Website• Validating a Wordpress Theme• Conclusion

AGENDA

WHAT IS VALIDATION

• Validation is a process of checking documents against a formal Standard, published by Standard organizations.

• It serves a similar purpose to spell checking and proofreading for grammar and syntax, but is much more precise, because of it’s dealing with machine languages.

WHAT IS VALIDATION

• W3C – World Wide Web Consortium has it’s own standard for internet (web) based documents, which includes: HTML, XHTML, CSS etc.

• Similarly Apple has it’s own IOS standard for Mobile APP validation and WordPress has it’s standard for plugin / theme validation.

WHY VALIDATE A WEBSITE

• In simple terms, validation ensures that your website complies with the standards accepted by most web designers.

• This allows your site to be accessible to more people, across more web browsers, operation systems, and search engines.

WHY VALIDATE A WEBSITE

• The base issue that the non-validated websites face are, they rely on auto-correction methodology of the web browsers.

• But in certain instance, if the browser doesn’t have the capability to do so, the website breaks down it’s user experience.

WHY VALIDATE A WEBSITE

• The purpose of W3C’s appearance in the early 90s was to develop certain standards for HTML to follow.

• This was important because different vendors had begun creating their own versions of HTML and W3C worked to agree the vendors on supporting the standards and principles made by it.

WHY VALIDATE A WEBSITE

• Now we are on 2014 and now every standard organization is following the rulesets of HTML standard prepared by W3C.

• So, validation of a web page means making the page's code compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) standards.

WHY VALIDATE A WEBSITE

• There are many reasons to write valid HTML, XHTML, and CSS and to check for valid links. Here are some of them:

WHY VALIDATE A WEBSITE

• SEARCH ENGINES• BETTER, FASTER RENDERING• A CONSISTENT DOCUMENT OBJECT MODEL• AVOID UGLY PAGES• BE STANDARDS COMPLIANT• WRITE IT ONCE

VALIDATION TECHNIQUES

• Validators detect problems in your web page and style sheet. It could be a tag that was opened and never closed.

• It could be a misspelled piece of code or forgotten element the tag or style requires to work properly.

• You become a detective, hunting and solving the little problems occurring in your web page.

VALIDATION TECHNIQUES

• Validation doesn't just mean putting your pages through some web driven testers. It also means test-driving it with friends, relatives, co-workers, and strangers.

• Everyone has a different system and way of working, so ask for others to test-drive your styles or themes before you make them public.

IMPORTANCE OF W3C VALIDATION

• As we already discussed, W3C validation is the process of checking a websites code follow the formatting standards put up by the World Wide Web Consortium otherwise known as W3C.

IMPORTANCE OF W3C VALIDATION

IMPORTANCE OF W3C VALIDATION

IMPORTANCE OF W3C VALIDATION

• W3C validation not only functions as a code debugging tool to check for coding errors, it also makes sure that websites are formatted using international and professional W3C standards.

• There are also many other reasons why your website should undergo web page validation including:

IMPORTANCE OF W3C VALIDATION

• Improved User Experience• Browser Friendliness and Accessibility• Allows You to Debug Your Pages• Results in Better SEO• Easy Coding and Maintenance

WORDPRESS WEBSITE VALIDATION

• To validate your WordPress site, here is a quick checklist:

WORDPRESS WEBSITE VALIDATION

• Validate HTML/XHTML • Validate CSS • Validate Links (check for dead links) • Validate Feeds• Check across different browsers (include handheld devices) • Re-validate HTML and CSS • Have friends, relatives, co-workers check your site • When ready, you can post your site on the WordPress

Forum's for review

VALIDATION SOURCES

• HTML – ValidationThe W3C's HTML Validation Service (URL and upload)

• Link Checkerhttp://validator.w3.org/checklink

• QA Toolshttp://www.w3.org/QA/Tools/

• Watson Addy's Validatorhttp://watson.addy.com/

VALIDATION SOURCES

• HTML Validator Prohttp://html.validator.pro/

• OnlineWebCheck.comhttp://www.onlinewebcheck.com/

• CSS ValidationW3.org's CSS Validator (URL, upload, and direct paste in)

• WDG and HTMLhelp.com's CSS Validator and Checkerhttp://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/csscheck/

VALIDATION SOURCES

• Walidatorhttp://www.walidator.com/

• RSS Feed Validatorhttp://feedvalidator.org/

• Redland RSS 1.0 Validatorhttp://librdf.org/rss/

VALIDATING A WORDPRESS THEME

• Along with W3C's standards, WordPress has its standards, too:

VALIDATING A WORDPRESS THEME

• PHP Coding Standards includes using single & double quotes correctly, using full PHP tags at all times, using white space properly, utilizing Conditions and so on.

VALIDATING A WORDPRESS THEME

• HTML Coding Standards refers to writing valid HTML code; using attribute values with lowercase characters, wrapping the attribute values with quotes, using white space with logical indentation, etc.

VALIDATING A WORDPRESS THEME

• CSS Coding Standards includes structuring the stylesheet properly, using lowercase names (with hyphens for separating words) in selectors, ordering the properties nicely, commenting and such.

VALIDATING A WORDPRESS THEME

• JavaScript Coding Standards calls that we use braces appropriately, name functions and variables with camelCase, defining an anonymous function if jQuery is going to be used, and so forth.

VALIDATING A WORDPRESS THEME

• Theme Review Standards includes writing quality code (naturally), separating functionality by using plugins, utilizing template tags and hooks properly, supporting WordPress-generated CSS classes, securing the theme, licencing appropriately, organizing the theme files properly, writing a sufficient documentation... There's just too much!

CONCLUSION

• Without any questions, it is a mandatory task for every web designers and web developers to validate their websites before releasing for the web.

• As long as you validate your web pages and maintain them to stay valid, you will only benefit from it.

REFERECES

• Code.tutsplus.com• Wordpress.org

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