Web Development on a Stick
Valid Questions?
Ruminating on how the W3C’s Markup Validator has influenced the coding of websites.
How would our website’s messaging change if the American Marketing Association had a Message Validator?
How would our site’s architecture change if the Information Architecture Institute offered an Architecture Validator?
How would our site’s content change if the Web Content Professionals offered a Content Validator?
How would our site’s design change if the American Institute of Graphic Arts offered a Design Validator?
How would our lives change if God offered a Life Validator?
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October 20, 2007
Good points, all ‘round, but does not God provide a life validator via the Bible?
October 20, 2007
Umm...yes and no.
My thinking was that so often we want to say to God - “just give me the list of what I need to do” - but it’s not that easy. Salvation is by grace, but what then? We can do the right things for the wrong reasons, the wrong things for the right reasons and generally screw things up.
The question was, like submitting a URL to the W3C validator, what if you could pick up a Bible and get immediate validation - Yes, you’re doing the right thing, for the right reasons, your heart is in the right place, your pride isn’t getting in the way, etc.
October 20, 2007
Well, I look at it this way: You could have a page layout that is based entirely on nested tables. But, as long as the code is well formed, and has a correct doctype, the validator won’t know the difference. That’s when human intuition comes into play, making the necessary judgment calls.
In that same regard, the Bible is a “validator” against which we can examine our own lives, examining ourselves to ensure “best practices” are being applied. Just because I don’t murder, kill, or steal doesn’t make me a good person at the core. Without Christ, I am nothing.
I do see your point though. I agree, sometimes I want the “burning bush” manifestation of God, and not the derived understanding that requires study and discipline. I cannot help but think of John 20:29, in which Jesus addresses Thomas’ doubt…
<blockquote cite="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john 20:29;&version=31;">Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."</blockquote>
October 20, 2007
OK - this is going way deeper than thought process behind the post...
But since we’re here....
In one sense you can see the Bible as the spec. My “what-if” was more, I think, in the sense of the immediate feedback the validator gives you over a specific chunk of code against the spec, and how that might impact those of us without the seminary training...
October 20, 2007
Yeah, I hear ya. Just playing “[Jesus’] advocate.”
October 22, 2007
The validator is an interesting topic. I discovered it just last year even though I started the current incarnation of my site nearly eight years ago and have changed little since. Once I got things running back then, I pretty much kept doing what I was doing because it worked.
When I discovered the validator, I read up on the various types of document types and decided to see if I could make a passing page. It was more out of curiosity than anything but I believe it’ll make for a better user experience with unusual browsers. As Nathan said, compliance is not a guarantee of good style, but it’s a step in the right direction, and a prodding to think about how one does things.
New pages I create are XHTML 1.0 Strict, and I’ll will work on the existing pages as time permits.