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**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 09:31 AM

Morning all,

I've done some research and uploaded 11 different stores, validating each one in turn. This was done using the example store without any prior editing on my part. These are the results:-

No.1 56 Errors
No.2 55 Errors
No.3 56 Errors
No.5 56 Errors
No.7 56 Errors
No.9 55 Errors
No.13 56 Errors
No.14 55 Errors
Hyper 67 Errors
Best Seller 87 Errors
Smart 73 Errors

I've therefore decided to start my store using Clean Layout No.9.

I will work through the various templates cleaning up as many errors as I can before proceeding to impose any edits. That way I'll be able to validate as I make changes and catch errors immediately.

I'd appreciate some advice though as some of the pre-installed errors have me baffled.

Here's the errors from Act_Primary which I've put into various groups.

Group.1
Line 8, column 27: there is no attribute "VALUE"
<Actinic:BASEHREF VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:BASEHREF"/>

Line 8, column 49: element "ACTINIC:BASEHREF" undefined

Line 22, column 20: element "ACTINIC:COOKIECHECK" undefined

Line 77, column 26: "NETQUOTEVAR:BGIMAGE" is not a member of a group specified for any attribute

Line 77, column 74: "NETQUOTEVAR:BGCOLOR" is not a member of a group specified for any attribute

Line 77, column 123: "NETQUOTEVAR:LINKCOLOR" is not a member of a group specified for any attribute

Line 77, column 146: "NETQUOTEVAR:VLINKCOLOR" is not a member of a group specified for any attribute

Line 77, column 169: "NETQUOTEVAR:ALINKCOLOR" is not a member of a group specified for any attribute

Line 116, column 35: value of attribute "METHOD" cannot be "NETQUOTEVAR:CGIMETHOD"; must be one of "GET", "POST"
<form method="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIMETHOD" action="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIURL">

Line 142, column 69: element "ACTINIC:NOWSERVING" undefined

Line 143, column 40: element "ACTINIC:CURRACCOUNT" undefined

Line 143, column 64: element "ACTINIC:LOGOUT_SIMPLE" undefined

I assume that there is nothing I can do with the errors in Group.1 as they are used by Actinic to work its magic?

Group.2
Line 73, column 2: invalid comment declaration: found name character outside comment but inside comment declaration
--->

Line 77, column 181: there is no attribute "MARGINWIDTH"

Line 77, column 198: there is no attribute "MARGINHEIGHT"

Line 79, column 74: there is no attribute "BACKGROUND"

Line 88, column 49: required attribute "TYPE" not specified
<script language="JavaScript">

Line 104, column 17: there is no attribute "BACKGROUND"

Group.2 errors I can correct without any problem.

Group.3
Line 116, column 64: document type does not allow element "FORM" here
...d="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIMETHOD" action="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIURL">

Line 117, column 5: document type does not allow element "TR" here
<tr>

Line 120, column 5: document type does not allow element "TR" here
<tr>

Line 123, column 5: document type does not allow element "TR" here
<tr>

Line 128, column 7: end tag for "TABLE" which is not finished
</table>

Group.3 I'm not sure what is going on here. Is it the result of an incorrectly nested table? These errors are present for all the different templates I've looked at, so am unable to compare and spot the difference. Can some kind soul let me know how to fix this?

Finally,

error: Line 62, column 0: comment declaration started here
<!--

Not sure what this is referencing.

Here's the url for the uploaded store which I've un-compacted the html.

http://www.magicalwonders.com/acatalog/index.html

Plus I've uploaded a copy of the act_primary as a text document.

If someone can confirm my statements on the various groups above and help out on the errors I'm stuck on, I would be grateful.

Many thanks,

Myles

Attached Files

Act_Primary9.txt (5.5 KB, 336 views)

**retekdirect** · 28-Jun-2005, 09:57 AM

Line 77, column 123: "NETQUOTEVAR:LINKCOLOR" is not a member of a group specified for any attribute

Um, maybe i'm being daft, but surely you shouldn't get these showing online as these are Actinic generated? Once the pages are compiled and uploaded, you should never see NETQUOTEVARs. Are you validating the template files themselves? Seems like it if you're getting these sorts of things popping up.

Ryan

**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 10:19 AM

but surely you shouldn't get these showing online as these are Actinic generated?

No they don't show on line which is why I have put them into Group.1 for my act_primary and stated the following:-

I assume that there is nothing I can do with the errors in Group.1 as they are used by Actinic to work its magic?

I've already been advised in another thread to sort out the errors in the various templates. That is what I'm trying to do. Rather than spend hours trying to determine which template the 55 errors fall into, it will be quicker to correct the main suspects and then see what's left. Does that make sense?

Myles

**retekdirect** · 28-Jun-2005, 10:43 AM

Yep, makes sense. Just seemed odd 'cos those kinds of code chunks will never validate.

Good luck to you sire

Keep us informed!

**cdicken** · 28-Jun-2005, 11:04 AM

Group.3 I'm not sure what is going on here. Is it the result of an incorrectly nested table? These errors are present for all the different templates I've looked at, so am unable to compare and spot the difference. Can some kind soul let me know how to fix this?

W3C does not like <form> tags between <table> tags and <tr> tags. I had to do this to get around a bug in IE which always included a gap for a <form> tag within the design - which disrupted the store designs.

It is not invalid HTML - it's just that W3c doesn't like it. You can move the <form> tags outside of the <table> tags if you like. Since v6.1.3 I have used a CSS value to ensure that <form> tags don't include gaps.

Plus - you shouldn't be validating templates. You should be validating your finished store - with compacted HTML.

comment declaration started here

It looks like there is an extra '-' within a comment mark.

You will never ever get totally valid HTML 4.0 transitional within an Actinic store because of the tags that we require to make it work. Sorry about that. I suggest you just don't worry about it too much - we test our software on all leading (and non-leading) browsers, and it is compatible with all the W3C Priority 1 accessibility guidelines.

**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 12:50 PM

Thanks for responding Chris.

Plus - you shouldn't be validating templates. You should be validating your finished store - with compacted HTML.

No.1 56 Errors
No.2 55 Errors
No.3 56 Errors
No.5 56 Errors
No.7 56 Errors
No.9 55 Errors
No.13 56 Errors
No.14 55 Errors
Hyper 67 Errors
Best Seller 87 Errors
Smart 73 Errors

These results were validated using compacted html on the uploaded stores.

You will never ever get totally valid HTML 4.0 transitional within an Actinic store because of the tags that we require to make it work.

I'm not looking to get a totally valid HTML spec. Just the best I can get. As I've seen stores with as few as 21 errors it is apparently possible.

Plus - you shouldn't be validating templates

What is the alternative? How do I correct the errors without going into the templates?

Line 117, column 5: document type does not allow element "TR" here
<tr>
Line 120, column 5: document type does not allow element "TR" here
<tr>
Line 123, column 5: document type does not allow element "TR" here
<tr>
Line 128, column 7: end tag for "TABLE" which is not finished
</table>

You can move the <form> tags outside of the <table> tags if you like.

Are you saying that these errors are a result of the form tags?

Thanks for the help.

Myles

**cdicken** · 28-Jun-2005, 01:01 PM

What is the alternative? How do I correct the errors without going into the templates?

You need to validate your pages, and then try and work out which template is giving you the error. It's not easy, but not impossible

Are you saying that these errors are a result of the form tags?

Take a look at the code for the quick search...

Code:

<!-- SIMPLESEARCH HTML BEGIN -->
<div align="right">
<table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5 border=0 height="30" background="bk.gif">
 	<tr>
		<form name=simplesearch action="NETQUOTEVAR:SEARCHCGIURL" METHOD="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIMETHOD">
	      <td valign="MIDDLE"><span class="actxsmall"><b>NETQUOTEVAR:QUICKSEARCHLABEL</b></span></td>
			<td valign=middle noWrap align=right>
				<input type="TEXT" name="SS" size="15" maxsize="125" value="">&nbsp;
			</td>
			<td valign=center noWrap align=left>
				<input type=SUBMIT name=ACTION value="NETQUOTEVAR:QUICKSEARCHBUTTONTEXT">
				<input TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="PR" VALUE="-1">
				<input TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="TB" VALUE="A">
				<input TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="SHOP" VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:SHOPID">
			</td>
		</form>
	</tr>
</table>
</div>
<!-- SIMPLESEARCH HTML END -->

Notice that the <form> tags are between the <td> tags and the <tr> tags. This is what the w3c is upset with. If you move the <form> tags either outside the <table> tags or within the <td> tags it will not generate a validation error.

**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 02:02 PM

You need to validate your pages, and then try and work out which template is giving you the error. It's not easy, but not impossible

Coincidentally it says on my business card "Nothing is impossible".
Would it not be quicker to clean up the code in at least the Act_primary first and maybe a couple of likely suspect templates, then see what's left? Wouldn't the same result be achieved?

Thanks for your help on this.

Myles

**cdicken** · 28-Jun-2005, 03:19 PM

Yes, absolutely.

Also, a little tip is that if you do uncompact the HTML, it makes the online validators more upset, but the <Actinic:TEMPLATE> tags in the code tell you which template controls which bit of the page.

**jont** · 28-Jun-2005, 03:52 PM

Myles - I know many people on here (myself included) have spent many an hour and hair-pulling trying to get the Actinic stores to validate. I, like most of the others, have come to the conclusion whilst you can tidy some of the code and (as Chris says) the browsers are happy with the code you are best focussing the time spent on making the site more attractive, adding new products, making it search engine friendly etc etc...

I am here to make money not make the W3C pass my site... try checking out any of the big name companies and you will be amazed at how many will not pass the validators.

**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 04:32 PM

you are best focussing the time spent on making the site more attractive, adding new products, making it search engine friendly etc etc...

I agree Jonty. I understand though that fewer errors does make for more search engine friendly pages. As I've said before, I realise I can't achieve complete validation of code. However, if I can get it down to 15 to 20 errors from the outset, that has to be worth while. It will then be easy peasy to maintain those stats as I make changes.

Thanks for the tips Chris. When I'm finished, I'll make an almost error free copy of clean layout 9 available to anyone who wants it.

Many thanks,

Myles

**pinbrook** · 28-Jun-2005, 04:54 PM

alot of Myles original html errors were tags within tags etc, the sort of code you end up with when you only use WYSIWYG.

I often strip out as much of the Actinic generated code that I can to get better validation - but to do this you need to know what you are doing

**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 05:22 PM

alot of Myles original html errors were tags within tags etc, the sort of code you end up with when you only use WYSIWYG.

Well I haven't been using a WYSIWYG editor! So who does that leave?

I put together my own template for act_primary in notepad, used Normans code to replace three templates for multi-columns and that's it!

Myles

**magicalwonders** · 28-Jun-2005, 05:54 PM

Chris,

I must be missing something here regarding this advice.

Notice that the <form> tags are between the <td> tags and the <tr> tags. This is what the w3c is upset with. If you move the <form> tags either outside the <table> tags or within the <td> tags it will not generate a validation error.

I've tried using this code:

NETQUOTEVAR:FORMBEGIN
<TABLE BORDER="5" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" WIDTH="CUSTOMVAR:ACTSTDWIDTH" ALIGN="CENTER">
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT" >

<A NAME="top"><INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=RANDOM VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:RANDOM"></A>
NETQUOTEVAR:HIDDENFIELDS


<Actinic:NOWSERVING/>
<Actinic:CURRACCOUNT/><Actinic:LOGOUT_SIMPLE/><br>

<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:HEADERTEXT<br><br></span>
NETQUOTEVAR:BULK <br><br>
<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:FOOTERTEXT</span>


</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
NETQUOTEVAR:FORMEND<br>

And this:-

<TABLE BORDER="5" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" WIDTH="CUSTOMVAR:ACTSTDWIDTH" ALIGN="CENTER">
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="MIDDLE" ALIGN="LEFT" >
NETQUOTEVAR:FORMBEGIN
<A NAME="top"><INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=RANDOM VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:RANDOM"></A>
NETQUOTEVAR:HIDDENFIELDS


<Actinic:NOWSERVING/>
<Actinic:CURRACCOUNT/><Actinic:LOGOUT_SIMPLE/><br>

<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:HEADERTEXT<br><br></span>
NETQUOTEVAR:BULK <br><br>
<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:FOOTERTEXT</span>

NETQUOTEVAR:FORMEND<br>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>

But the following error is still reapearing.

Line 116, column 64: document type does not allow element "FORM" here
...d="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIMETHOD" action="NETQUOTEVAR:CGIURL">

What am I doing wrong?

Myles

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