Well, my previous comment seems to have been eaten by the anti-spam (whoops?) so I'll repost in case it isn't just the moderators taking their time.

I was going to mention Firefox extensions, but it seems they've been mentioned a good ten or so times already, so I'll just talk about my favorite editor:
I use jEdit, which I find a lot more sophisticated than Dreamweaver. The only thing it doesn't have over DW is the design view (although perhaps the infoviewer plug-in could do it), which I never really liked anyway (WYSIWYG is not valid for web design! Sorry. If you want that, please stick with home sites - previewing with it is one thing, but using WYSIWYG to entirely make pages is not professional at all). It is a Java program, therefore almost no matter what your operating system is, you can use the same editor. It has plug-ins for just about everything (XML validation, PHP validation, many edit modes and syntax checkers, (S)FTP upload, even an IRC client!), so I suggest you give it a try.
At least, if you consider yourself "professional". ;>

Alec Burgess - Because strictly speaking, all attribute values should be quote-enclosed! It was only allowed for pure numeric (0-9 only, hex excluded) in HTML 3 or 4 transitional for there to be no quotes.

Your regular expression got cut off. Try again? Also, what do you mean support for REs is limited? What's missing?

HMMM- To Validate or not To Validate--That is the question : ) I say if you like it--USE IT ! And be thankful for GOTD And all the free stuff the give away-You kow they don't HAVE to do this. If You don't like it--don't use it-Use what you like. But Please,Please Please-Refrain from all the Technicle,Hudu Garb and Such. I mean--One Guy said He manages over 100 sites--Good for him-So who has time for all thast Techno Garb right ? Ya,Ya,I know this comment is pretty much useless,But I have a right to throw in my 2 cents now and then :) BTW - I have a web site too- If your that worried about html being perfect-just get one of those Free "Drag and Drop No html Required Programs " Such as WebPlus from Serif. Works For Me !

Really Great!

Regular expression support (those of you who know what they are will understand this :P) is severely limited.

I grabbed a page at random to see how quickly I could get it to verify clean.

It complains about that any hex color string NOT enclosed in quotes (single or double) is an error.

This regular expression:
Find=(?

I just wanted to say that I think it's fabulous that this site offers the opportunity for the budget-minded to get some software for free.
If it helps me then that's even better but even if it doesnt, at least I know before putting down a wad of bills that I could have used elsewhere.
Bravo!!! and thank you very much. ;)

Re: Comment by sam — August 9th, 2007 at 5:34 am
If you were a professional you would be more concerned about those little things that you say "doesn't matter". It only takes a small mistake in code to cause a lot of problems on the page. Also you would be more careful about the spelling of your words.

That said: Thanks GOTD for this great Give-away! I really get tired of all the useless give-aways. This is a very good and useful one! Thanks, but I'm not submitting my web-url. I have a business site, and there are enough baddie bots crawling it already.

Hmm. Not what I've come here for. Somebody tell me, why real player format won't burn on a DVD? That's the kind of program I'm looking for.. Free 'course..

This one activated ok this morning and is now an expired trial which does nothing. If you spent time this morning using it successfully - try it now!

Number 29 needs to use HTML Tidy which will correct the code up to a point. Really serious errors will not be corrected, but reported. No one should be confusing Standard or Professional version on a give away. The Pro version is to the right above and listed under “More titles…”. I use the W3C HTML/CSS validators plus my HTML Editor has a built in HTML Tidy. Still, some of the functions offered by CSE HTML Validator seem to make it well worth having as an additional tool.

If your license was working earlier and then stopped working, then please let me know here ASAP:
http://www.htmlvalidator.com/htmlval/webemailform.php

Sweet!! I use Visual Studio which is great for validating xhtml but lacks spell check. Thanks guys great download!!!

Sorry for being so lazy, but can any of you tekkies tell me quickly if a casual [vs professional] computer user would find a use for this?

More specifically, would I be able to use this on a myspace page to check out who's reading my blog or checking out my profile?

Thanks in advance,
Lisa Fla

PS - Y'all quit being so hard on each other and on GOTD.

GAOTD You do a mighty fine job but some of the programs that you put out are ones that not very many people use. But thank you for those other apps that 95% of us use. I'm just not a website designer because there are sites like myspace and xanga that are much easier to use.



Thanks alot!!! but today I'll pass

It sounds great, but you don't need it as a validator for your website. You can download a plugin for Firefox which validates the site shown in the browser window, and to validate a site in Opera you just press Ctrl + Alt + V...

I'm impressed with the features of this product, so will download it and put it to use on my HOA web pages. I started out handcoding web pages, but even when tailoring pages created with smart tools, having a variety of validators can be useful. No tool is perfect, reflecting its developer's perspectives. And as another pointed out, standards change.

Since some have suggested validator.w3.org and other online validators, I have to note that if your web site is inside your network you may have to use one of these standalone tools. A number of the places I've worked keep at least some of their web servers walled off from the Internet, and online validators won't work for these.

To all developers out there -- w3.org is the best place for you.

Should I complain about a free app ?:/ not sure, however the w3 site is the "mother" of all, and updates itself.

... so if this application can do things that this website cannot, What are they?

#11 - "tech 4 novices"
Please stop posting comments for the sole purpose of advertising your website (so you'll get more google ad hits). It's simply rude, and, for those who are wise, it's what will keep us off your website. At least give a software review.

As for this software:
This could be useful if you design/code webpages. Personally, i use Dreamweaver, which has a validator, and i'm not about to send ANY code to some other random website (seems like it'd be a good way for spammers to sucker people into giving them confirmed valid email addresses/personal info/etc.). All that said, this program seems to rate well in other reviews, and isn't an upstart company that hasn't had the time to actually code working software. i think it'd be perfect for those that prefer to actually write the code (as opposed to wysiwyg programs - i use both methods), although i find it hard to comprehend paying $69 for it... even $20 would be a stretch for me. Fortunately, it's free today, but since CSE is wanting some feedback by offering it, they may want to make note of the myriad of comments indicating a preference of free web validators (despite the risks) over $69 software... it's obviously overpriced. Consider adding more value to the software (either through adding features, or through lowering the price). As for me, even though i'm happy with Dreamweaver, i'm sure i'll use this software... it doesn't hurt to have another level of FREE error checking.
Thanks GOTD!

Like many have said, utilities like this are fairly common and free. Firefox has numerous free plugins that will do this on-the-fly.

Huston, I have a problem with the registration. This morning the program was working properly but now it asks me registration. The Validator says: Unregistered trial license. After I tried to reinstall the program says: The trial period has expired.

Thunder and lightning! What to do now? Am I alone on the Moon?

I use the free version of this and love it! I write my html and my css with it and it has done everything I have wanted it to!

#59 you have to have written the code to validate it....
I am a web site developer and just because you do it one way does not mean it is the only way!

I do not know beans about most of the stuff in this little give away, but, (don't you just hate that word?) I think Firefox has most of them in their site editing tools doesn't it?

I will pass on this one because I use Dreamweaver8. Dreamweaver8 Uses error checking also, and it has all the features of a WEB creation app. Yes, Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG Editor-> and is interesting to use in code view. You wouldnt beleive how much bogus code it puts in there if your not paying attention. Coders using Notepad are lames, as they cannot swithch to Design view to get perfect image placements etc., or they just design boreing pages. Either way, it is best to verify code line by line with ones own eye after down-> because it is so critical when pages get to the 100kb range [you know what I nean? take out every single i highly suggest getting this one.

P.s.s. For ALL you web designers-> here is a MUST site to visit Browsercheck.com . It provides an image snapshot of your web page in every known browser. I tried it using different email account names FREE. Full timers should get a real account.

MattB and others who recommend using W3C: I don't like the W3C because it can't distinguish between regular html and java scripts. I got a lot of "errors" with W3C that weren't actually errors [mostly in java scripts which, if removed as recommended by W3C, would cause the scripts to fail to work]. Other validation programs that I have used don't see them as errors...apparently, they can distinguish java scripts. Among those which can distinguish java scripts is today's giveaway, so I recommend it for people who have websites.

#1 andbiscuits:

"I am very sure there are free online alternatives, and free software even..." Well, why don't you be specific then, instead of simply bashing something you haven't tried and when you can't even name something that is FREE that is substantially better?

You sound like the type of person who is habitually negative, and who never gets invited to parties because they complain about everything. It's ok to have an opinion, but you should be able to justify it with facts and specifics. Maybe you should grow a beard to hide behind, start smoking a pipe, lean back in your chair, and become one of those annoying do nothing but say everything people that have political science degrees. Or maybe that is already you.

Perhaps what you really need is a SCREEN SAVER...

On a practical note for others, this is a very useful program for anyone who has a web site. Try it and you will quickly see the value of it. My web sites have been revised so many times they are littered with error fragments. I had actually been thinking about buying this, so it was a pleasant surprise for it to appear here. Many thanks, GAOTD!

To everyone who says that this is useless, go fall in a ditch.
I, a Web Developer, have much use for this program. It is sometimes a pain to go through the code of a page. This makes it so much easier.9/10

Thank you.

Even if this wasn't useful to me, GaotD is doing the right thing by offering programs that are targeted to VARIED and specific demographics and markets. Recently we have seen software for musicians, IT professionals, as well as programs for people who are paranoid, have decreased vision, even those with infected, dirty, or underpowered computers.

To Those Who Complain: if the daily offering isn't what you wished for, wait for tomorrow. Eventually, there will be something perfect for you.

This looks pretty good. I will make good use of it. SEOs are putting a much higher value on clean websites these days and this will make it a lot easier.

What this software could do if it would properly install and function, is not only validate, gives specific instructions on corrections. But since your a web devoloper #58 you dont need it :P

Software installs, loads, then states its unregistered, and since we are not provided with any registration info it states trila period has expired for software.
Too bad, useful program for some of us.

Mine was registered this morning, and now it says that trial has expired.

I checked in the registry at the emplacement indicated by the editor (see link above) and the registration infos are still in place.

http://www.htmlvalidator.com/htmlval/htmlvalqa.html#q23

On the French GOTD, many of us reported the same problem of this software being activated then after a short while expired trial.

#31. If you are only the webmaster you have no need for this, but for a professional web developer this, or something similar, is very necessary.

Hello, BladedThoth, I appreciated your review. I tried a web page in CSE HTML Validator and W3C's Validator, and I thought that the CSE HTML Validator generally did a much better job (the page was a Netscape page; lots of errors). CSE did a much better job of parsing, and I thought its descriptions were generally better than W3C's (I should note that I turned CSE's beginner mode off). W3C's parser seemed a lot less intelligent, so it generated lots of cascading errors which it shouldn't have. CSE actually generated far more information about various web and browser standards than W3C did. When you click on an error, warning, etc., in the Message tab, it not only highlights the relevant portion of the code, but also selects all relevant information for that line, which is in the Line tab. The Grouped tab has tips for the entire page grouped in various categories. Then there are the Accessibility, Styles, and Links tabs. The Structure tab is handy. There are some statistics in the left pane. The right pane shows the overall structure, and clicking on a line takes you to the relevant place in the code. The Scratch tab gives you two persistent scratch pads with which to do whatever you want. CSE has numerous features. You can right-click errors/warnings, and change their type or disable them. I recall that a tip said that the message window could be undocked and moved, such as placed between the editing window and the error window (I haven't tried it, I have a very high-resolution desktop). CSE also generated numerous interesting comments about improving the page, how long it would take the page (alone) to download at various speeds, and comments on using CSE itself.

I'm a web developer and can't see why anyone would pay for validation software. Why not just use this?

http://validator.w3.org/

Actually I use Dreamweaver for my coding and never use design view. I also have a professional website designer friend, Carolyn Wood in Portland, OR who uses Dreamweaver as well. So it's a great useful tool if you want to design sites faster than if you just used say wordpad.
So though it is a WYSIWYG editor I only us the great coding interface in it.

Thanks for something new! I can hardly wait to try it out! Keep up the good work!

This would be terrible to actually buy. There are free online tools that do the same thing.

It blows my mind to see "professionals" extol the virtues of "if it looks good, it is good."

In my experience, those are often the ones using WYSIWYG editors and have no idea how much crap code is being dumped into their documents. When a page breaks, do they know how to fix it (probably delegate it to some poor code monkey with better things to do and let them sort it out)?

Someday these professionals will NEED compliant code for their own accessibility issues. We all get old.

I've been using CSE Lite since I started coding and am almost delirious over getting the standard for free! Thanks GAOTD!

Downloaded, Activated, and Installed without a hitch.
This is the STANDARD version.
I couldn't import any web pages from any URL.
Waiting on website fix to see review by BladedThoth before I decide to uninstall it or not.
Seems to have worked for some other people.
Not something I think I really need yet as I'm just starting to learn how to program HTML and have several of the other programs mentioned in other comments I use(http://www.chami.com/html-kit/) that check the code for you and I'm not a webmaster. Nonetheless I can't complain about getting a $69 piece of software for free.
If only the Website X5 program had activated for me this would have made a good addition to it.
#11 Cool site http://tech4novices.info/
bookmarked and added to my favs.

#48, correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Dreamweaver a WYSIWYG Editor that requires no coding on the users part? If that's the case, then you should have no room to talk about other peoples coding and the error sign (In internet explorer...?) in other people's web-pages.

Most real page-writers use NotePad, or some other text editor. I use NotePad++ and some other tools.

Validating and nagging are two completely different things. If something works, say you put " instead of ', and it says you need ', that's nagging. " works just fine and I've yet to see someone go to my source to randomly complain about how I missed a tag ending, or put funny notes in there. Such as

This program... I give it about 6/10, it gets on my nerves after a while. Besides, like the fellows uptop have mentioned, why not use an online validator (for some reason - FireFox is picking the word Validator up as an incorrect spelling. I googled it and it's the correct spelling.)

Not for me.
Peace out,
Dude.

Hello all!

Appears my server host went down. Waiting for a response from them. Sorry for the inconvienience!

I've been using a paid version of the program for several years. It is very good and useful to anyone who has their own site.

It can point out subtle errors, minor things you can improve and a lot of extra information.

Hello all! Today's 15-Minute Review is up! Check it out!

http://www.bladedthoth.com/reviews/15mrs/cse-html-validator-standard-v8-04/

Google Language Tools translation of #38 (Not very good but understandable)

CSE HTML Validator is one of the best programs for the control of code HTML and for the CSS; in poor words servants in order to validate, that is in order to make sure that all is written in formally valid way. According to my opinion (job as sviluppatore web from 10 years) this software is the best one of its category: it is an instrument for professionals of the web, and I do not understand as never the positive judgments you on it are with the insufficient ones. Absolutely to try, and indispensable for those who develop webs seriously!

When someone says "I don't need something to check my site, if it works it works" then you KNOW that sometime in the near future it won't, as web browers change and start to tighten up on the code being dispayed. Many times I see the error icon at the bottom of a web page, which tells me that the web page has been created by someone who cannot program correctly. All web pages should be validated BEFORE being launched, and spell checked as well. I will still download this even though I normally use Dreamweaver to create my pages.

I have been designing online pages since before there was an internet. I worked on the Tutor and Micro tutor University system, FIDO and ARPA, as well as a stint with Quest working on email packet service.

Some pages I have worked on in the past include the Franklin Institute Science Museum (that was about a decade ago), and many non-profit agency pages. At the moment, I have online more than 100 pages that I designed, developed and maintain. Many of the pages I design win awards.

That is because I am obsessed with editing and compliance, especially with accesssablity standards (since I am slowly losing my eyesight to glaucoma, I am particularly sensitive to the issues). I think morons who say that they are too busy to properly design thier webspace to complay with accessability standards are just stupid jerks who should get a real job. Nothing like having one's screen reader babble nonsense or gret stuck in a loop, or simply refuse to read a web page just becsause some stupid jerk refuses to properly validate thier design.

That said, I have used may tools, including my own method of manually reading every line of code, in the effort to write the best code possible.

While many may find CSE HTML Validator as being too picky, I find that one can turn off options that will allow it to ignore minor problems like optional quotes missing.

While the program is a little buggy (others have mentioned what I also noticed) it does a fine job of validating accessability conformance, something I have found weak or lacking completely in other tools, such as Opera and Netscape.

Like any really good web designer should do, the CSE HTML Validator will now become another tool in my search for Web Design Nirvana.

Vewrey good and usefull software, thanks anyway altrough it needs a little time (some hours) to learn it how using.

Thanks anyway

This soft is good, I was using one HTML editor and one PHP editor and CSE HTML Validator combines the two softwares I was using.

The version offered could show to me errors and warnings from my website pages.

It's really a good tool I'm happy to have installed and been using !

Thanks very much GaotD !

Just a note to the web designers on the list here. I agree going back and validating an old site to W3 standards is a long process, often not worth it, but I often see designers failing to understand the alternate use of a tool like this. By running your code through a validator you not only see what IS wrong but you learn to change your coding style to be more standards compliant in the future. Maybe you won't go back and update every line of code you have done, but you will be reminded of the things that are issues and hopefully some of those practices will make it into your writing habits as you develop new code.

This is a great tool. I'll leave the in-depth reviews up to web designers, such as BladedThoth, but this tool works well (even if it has some bugs). I ran some web pages which I had previously downloaded through it, and most were filled with errors and typos. It tells you in great detail what the errors are, and in the case of invalid parameters, what the allowed parameters are. You have numerous options for the level of checking that it does. Syntax and error highlighting. You can have it tidy up and attempt to correct the code (Format and Fix HTML), and you can view the before and after versions as rendered by your browser. Internet Explorer integration (View Source) is optional. Syntax highlighting for many programming languages (many more than the file types list indicates; use "All files"). I noticed some bugs, such as the Message window which details selected errors/warnings, doesn't initially set the scroll thumb size correctly. In some cases, when you drag it to the bottom, it's not at the end of the message. When you release it, it will resize correctly, and then you can drag it to the actual end of the message. Link checking, etc. Definitely read the Help file (and it does have a quick "getting started").