I’m trying to validate the code. One problem that I cannot fix for XHTML 1.1 in topic.php is this line:

<ol id=”thread” start=”<?php echo $list_start; ?>”>

How would I change it so it will validate? Validation says the following:

there is no attribute “start” .

<ol id=”thread” start=”1″>

You have used the attribute named above in your document, but the document type you are using does not support that attribute for this element. This error is often caused by incorrect use of the “Strict” document type with a document that uses frames (e.g. you must use the “Transitional” document type to get the “target” attribute), or by using vendor proprietary extensions such as “marginheight” (this is usually fixed by using CSS to achieve the desired effect instead).

This error may also result if the element itself is not supported in the document type you are using, as an undefined element will have no supported attributes; in this case, see the element-undefined error message for further information.

How to fix: check the spelling and case of the element and attribute, (Remember XHTML is all lower-case) and/or check that they are both allowed in the chosen document type, and/or use CSS instead of this attribute.

[@mdawaffe Member 18 years, 2 months ago]

We should be using CSS counters, but they are kind of annoying and complicated. That’ll get fixed in the next version.

If you’re not displaying the post numbers at all in the OL, I wold just take out the start attribute.

[@kannued Participant 18 years, 2 months ago]

I like the post numbers. I will have to wait for the next version.

Thanks mdawaffe.

[@mdawaffe Member 17 years, 11 months ago]

I don’t think this was ever fixed. Maybe we should switch to transitional.

[@macwise Member 17 years, 10 months ago]

Transitional solves ALL my problems…

[@alexleonard Member 16 years, 9 months ago]

Hmm. Transitional might seem like a good idea, but the whole point of strict is to ensure proper coding.

Roger Johansson has written an excellent article many moons ago addressing this desire to use XHTML transitional

http://24ways.org/2005/transitional-vs-strict-markup

I’ve read a lot of debate about how if you’re going to use XHTML transitional, you should really consider at least going back to HTML Strict. It’s something to do with forcing browsers into proper standards compliant mode.