[Web4lib] Update: Problem with CSS?

[Jonathan Gorman]

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:23:23 -0500
>From: Lisa Wolfe <lwolfe at esagelink.com>  
>Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Update: Problem with CSS?  
>To: <jtgorman at uiuc.edu>, Web4Lib <web4lib at webjunction.org>
>
>Oh sorry Jon, did try the validators.  I am thinking after reading the next
>post that the line breaks are the problem.


It can help on a list like this if when you do try something on a validator that you include the first error message or two.  Even if you're not sure that they apply, someone else might figure out what they mean.  Sometimes errors messages are indirect, being caused by an earlier error that the validator or debugger doesn't recognize.

I tried the page after I got home from work with http://htmlhelp.com/tools/csscheck/ (found it via google, don't know how good it really is).  The first error message  was about the broken url.

One piece of advice for using these validators is to look first for error messages, not the warnings.  Warnings are things like "your background color is the same as your font color, so it won't be visible" whereas errors tend to be concerned with mistakes that will prevent your stylesheet from even being processed.  In other words, warnings tend to be violations of best practices, but errors are the violations of standards.   

I don't mean to sound like I'm lecturing ;).  Just some advice that I've found works well for me when trying to get help or help others with technical issues like this on mailing lists.  I've seen it too often where a person ends up getting ignored when they need help.  Thankfully this list is pretty good about not letting that happen.


Jon Gorman