HTML And CSS Validators
HTML and CSS validators allow you to check if web pages contain any errors on the code level. Web developers often make use of HTML and CSS validators. After checking the HTML or CSS code, the validator displays a list of errors it has found.
The Accessibility Toolbar includes HTML and CSS validators. Once you have installed the Accessibility Toolbar on your computer, you can go to the web page you want to check for errors. You should then activate the appropriate validator to start validating the page. The Accessibility Toolbar, under "Validators", has an option that lets you check only the HTML or both the HTML and CSS files of the page.
When the HTML and CSS validator has completed the process, it will then provide you with a list of the errors found in the HTML and CSS files. The list will also contain the location of the errors. The validator can also suggest ways of correcting the mistakes it has identified. Common errors include HTML tags that have not been closed properly and missing attributes.
Upon viewing the list, you can go to your HTML and CSS files and correct the errors one by one. It is necessary to validate the HTML and CSS files again after you have corrected all of the errors. This is to ensure that you have indeed rectified the mistakes and that your pages no longer have issues in them.
Importance of Validating Web Pages
A website containing error-free pages has a higher chance of becoming fully accessible. For instance, when all images have proper alternate texts, screen reader users will understand the purpose of each image in the site. Using HTML and CSS validators therefore increases your chance of making your site accessible and complying with international standards.
In addition, using HTML and CSS validators make your site compatible with most platforms and browsers. Let us say you have tried browsing your site using your favorite browser and you found it working properly. It is possible that the site may have errors which cause accessibility issues you would not notice. These accessibility issues would then be clearly seen by others using different browsers. However, if you use validators, you would find out about these errors, correct them, and prevent the aforesaid scenario.
Website validation also greatly benefits users of assistive technology. This is because assistive technologies acquire information mainly from the HTML codes of web pages. An error free page therefore prevents a layer of errors which can affect the browsing experience of certain users.
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