My wepages in XHTML validated just fine at first with the w3 schools. But I have some pages that I can't get to validate:

I decided to put some fun widgets on my home page and now I get a tonne and a half of errors I also use Flash quite a lot in the site, and all my pages with Flash bring up validation errors too.

My questions are - how can I fix it, and do I need to?

1) If I need to have the page in HTML rather than XHTML, are there any tools on the web to convert the page easily, or do I have to trawl through and change everything manually (and if so, what needs to be changed?)

2) Is there an easier method than the "Satay" method for getting pages with Flash to validate, because quite frankly I don't understand what I'm supposed to do! Also, If I'm using someone else's Flash widget, would I be able to use the Satay thing anyway?

3) Is there anything else I can do?

4) What happens if my pages just stay as they are - with the XHTML errors? The pages display fine, so what are the effects of having errors like these? Does it affect spidering or PR or anything else, or it is just a case of belt and braces?

Sorry for the long post!

Page with widgets: http://www.mymusictheory.com
A page with my own Flash movies http://www.mymusictheory.com/grade1/...cidentals.html

Thanks guys!

If I need to have the page in HTML rather than XHTML

Change the DTD and job done.

3) Is there anything else I can do?

Not really

The pages display fine, so what are the effects of having errors like these?

Pretty much nothing at all.

Does it affect spidering or PR or anything else,

Nope.

Thanks Chris - I tried changing the page to HTML and when I tried to validate it I got a whole load of other errors that didn't come up in XHTML - like on my meta tag for description and keywords, it said I need to take off the closing /> and replace it with plain old > ... - but you say there is nothing I would need to change?

Errm, Yes, "blonde moment" I think I had there. Obviously the self closing tags need changing. (not that it will make any difference at all to anything) Leave off the "Valid whatever" logo and nobody will really care

I'm obviously too used to my CMS system which handles it automatically.

And I know that I will get flak for not caring about having every bit of code validating but hey if it works in all browsers, what's a couple of non-critical warnings between friends

Change your DOCTYPE to HTML 4.01 STRICT and you won't have to worry about the closing tags. Using HTML Transitional is just sloppy.

1) If I need to have the page in HTML rather than XHTML, are there any tools on the web to convert the page easily, or do I have to trawl through and change everything manually (and if so, what needs to be changed?)

Actually, HTML Tidy will do this for you, you just have to take a few minutes to set up Tidy and tell it what you want changed or not changed.

2) Is there an easier method than the "Satay" method for getting pages with Flash to validate, because quite frankly I don't understand what I'm supposed to do! Also, If I'm using someone else's Flash widget, would I be able to use the Satay thing anyway?

Try swfObject, much better and easier than Satay. You should not be using that nasty <embed> tag.

Thanks! LadynRed - could you expand on "swfObject" or point me to a web page that explains it? Sorry, but I am really still a newbie!

Originally Posted by chrishirst

And I know that I will get flak for not caring about having every bit of code validating but hey if it works in all browsers, what's a couple of non-critical warnings between friends

I couldn't agree more

http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/