I've noticed that phrase on a lot of websites recently. My question is does it really matter to most of your clients? Are potential clients considering clicking the link to see the results and using that in their decisions making process when hiring a web designer? I guess it couldn't hurt (unless you the results are invalid), but from a usability standpoint is it really necessary. Any thoughts or opinions?

I doubt most clients would care if your site validates. Most people only want to know that the site works.

However it doesn't take any more time to develop a site that validates than one that doesn't. Maybe a little more time at first while you're learning, but once you've done a few valid sites it really doesn't take any more time.

I think it's a good idea to try to validate your code. I usually fix the errors and don't worry so much about the warnings. But learning how to write valid code just makes you a better coder and isn't it a good idea to improve your skills?

And you never know if the validation does convince one of two more people to become clients. But for the most part I doubt the majority of clients are even aware that there is such a thing as validation when it comes to the code behind your site.

Oh don't get me wrong. I am building valid sites. I was just wondering if including that section in the footer of a page was a trend, necessary, or something most designers are doing to impress their colleagues and competition more than their clients.

I agree it may just make or break the deal with a select few clients.

i think its not necassary but it does show people that you are i supose at least aware of webstandards and are making well formed sites.

Note: anyone know of any kind of valdiators like w3 but not w3 if you know what i mean, i came accross a cynthia tested one (which i found on vangiughs site XD) just wanted to know what others.

Thanks
Dan

I doubt most clients would care though I suppose it is used as a selling point. I know I added it to my site. I wouldn't say it's necessary, but if it can help why not.

Most clients won't really know what it means, but that also means they wouldn't know it's unnecessary. If a client is choosing between you and someone else and they have something that shows their site is valid and you don't the client may think the other designer is better.

Some of it might be occurring to impress colleagues, but my guess is it's more done as a selling point. The same way you might list awards you've won or the associations and certifications you have. A lot of the awards and certifications people display are pretty meaningless, but they probably still impress some people.

I look at it like this...anyone who is even aware of the importance of valid XHTML and CSS will validate the XHTML and CSS themselves, and providing some link in a footer really means nothing. Not only that, the link doesn't mean the code is valid...it just means that, at one point, the code might have been valid.