Validator Messages

Message Types

CSE HTML Validator generates four message types, listed below:

• Errors - (red) The most important issues most likely to cause problems for visitors. Error messages can also be issues that are flagrantly against the standards.
• Warnings - (yellow) Issues that may or may not cause problems for visitors, perhaps depending on the visitor's browser, but that you should know about. These may include issues against the standard but that are less likely to be problematic.
• Message - (blue) Generally useful information that will probably not cause problems for visitors. Unlike comments, messages are usually tied to a specific part of the document so that clicking on them in the editor takes you to a specific part of the document.
• Comments - (green) Similar to messages, but not usually tied to a specific section of the document. Comments typically give information (like the type, byte size, and download times of the document), or advice (like using an ICRA RDF label in the document).
  

Disabling Messages

By Flag ( Pro, Std, Lite)

Many validator messages are controlled by flags (by default, all flags are checked/enabled). Messages controlled by flags will have a number in brackets in front of them (like [10]). The number in the brackets indicates what flag affects the message. Typically, to disable the message, as well as any other message controlled by the same flag, you can uncheck the flag in the Flags tab of the Validator Engine Options. NOTE: Some messages may only display if a flag is unchecked instead of checked.

As a shortcut, when viewing the validator messages in the editor, you can right-click on the message in the Results Window and disable or enable flags from the message context menu.

What messages are affected by what flags is mostly determined by the configuration file being used. Typically (almost always), you would only be using the included configuration file when validating documents. See flag descriptions for details about what the flags do (for example, what messages they display) when the included configuration file is used.

By Message ID ( Pro, Std, Lite)

Many (but not all) messages are assigned a message ID so that messages can be individually enabled or disabled and so that message types can be changed. If you only want to disable a single message instead of all the messages for a particular flag, then you can do this by choosing to enable or disable a message on an individual basis. This works for most messages but not all. To do this, use the context menu for the message in the integrated editor (right-click on the message) and choose the desired option from the Options for this Message sub-menu. This feature may be referred to as the message ID feature because it only works for messages that have message IDs.

By Validation Mode ( Pro, Std, Lite)

To display only error messages, an errors only validation can be done by going to Tools->Validate->Errors only. Similarly, to display only error and warning messages, an errors and warnings only validation can be done by going to Tools->Validate->Errors and warnings only. These validation modes are supported when using the included configuration file.

By Message Type ( Pro, Std, Lite)

Warnings, messages, and comments can also be filtered out by going to Options->Validator Engine Options, Validator 1 tab and checking or unchecking the Show warnings, Show messages, and/or Show comments options. Error messages cannot be filtered out in this way.