HTML Guide
The attribute xmlns:serif is not valid. Check this guide for more information on this issue.
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Related W3C validator issues
An attribute could not be parsed from the HTML input, probably due to a typo. Check this guide for a related HTML issue.
The attribute xmlns:serif is not a valid namespace. This attribute is set by Affinity Designer on SVG exports.
Remove the xmlns:svg attribute from the <svg> element, leaving only the valid xmlns attribute.
The xmlns attribute defines the XML namespace for the SVG and is correctly set to http://www.w3.org/2000/svg. The xmlns:svg attribute attempts to declare a prefixed namespace, which is unnecessary and invalid in both HTML and SVG served as XML (or embedded in HTML). The W3C validator flags this because HTML5 does not allow arbitrary XML namespace declarations beyond the standard SVG namespace; such prefixes are not used in HTML serialization.
Incorrect usage:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- SVG content -->
</svg>Correct usage:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- SVG content -->
</svg>Only xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" is required for inline SVG in HTML.
The “xmlns:o” attribute is not allowed because it is not part of the standard HTML attributes and typically appears due to improperly embedded XML or Office-related HTML content.
In HTML documents, the “xmlns” attribute is used to declare a namespace and is generally valid for certain elements when dealing with XML documents or XHTML. However, the “xmlns:o” attribute specifically relates to XML namespaces typically used in Microsoft’s Office XML formats (for example, when copying and pasting styled content from Word to an HTML editor). Since HTML5 doesn’t natively support these namespaces as valid HTML attributes and strictly validates against them, any non-standard attributes like “xmlns:o” generate validation errors.
To fix this issue, you should remove the “xmlns:o” attribute unless you are sure that it’s necessary for the function of your document, and the document should be processed in a way that supports such namespaces. If the content is not meant to include Office-specific data elements, it’s likely this attribute was accidentally included and can be safely removed.
Example of Incorrect HTML with “xmlns:o”
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Sample Document</title>
</head>
<body xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office">
<p>This is a paragraph within a body tag falsely including an xmlns:o attribute.</p>
</body>
</html>Corrected Example without “xmlns:o”
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Sample Document</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This is a paragraph within a correctly structured HTML document.</p>
</body>
</html>By removing the “xmlns:o” attribute, the HTML document complies with the W3C standards, leading to successful validation. If you require namespaces for XML processing, it’s essential to handle them outside the context of standard HTML or within an XML or XHTML document structure where such namespaces are appropriate and valid.
The xmlns:svg attribute is not allowed on the <svg> element in HTML5 and causes validation errors.
The SVG specification only requires the xmlns (not xmlns:svg) attribute for embedding SVG in HTML, and custom namespace prefixes like xmlns:svg are not needed or permitted in HTML5. The sole required namespace declaration is xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg". The xmlns:svg form was only used in extremely outdated XML-based workflows and has no place in current HTML.
Incorrect HTML Example:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- SVG content here -->
</svg>Correct HTML Example:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- SVG content here -->
</svg>In summary:
- Use only xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" in inline SVG within HTML documents.
- Remove xmlns:svg and any other prefixed namespace attributes unless specifically required for XML workflows, not HTML.
Ensure the xmlns attribute for <svg> elements is set to “http://www.w3.org/2000/svg”.
In HTML documents, the xmlns attribute in an <svg> element must be defined correctly. The xmlns attribute specifies the XML namespace for an SVG element, which should always be “http://www.w3.org/2000/svg”. If you receive a validation error indicating a bad value for xmlns, it means that the attribute is empty or incorrectly set. This namespace ensures that the SVG elements are properly recognized as SVGs by the browser and aids in maintaining proper structure and function.
Here’s a correct example of an <svg> element:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<body>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="100" height="100">
<circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" stroke="black" stroke-width="3" fill="red" />
</svg>
</body>
</html>Ensure that every <svg> element you use includes the xmlns attribute with the correct value to avoid validation issues and ensure complete browser compatibility.
The only permitted value for the xmlns attribute is http://www.w3.org/2000/svg.
The namespace declaration for an <svg> element is provided by the xmlns attribute like this:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<!-- more tags here -->
</svg>Although using https in the URL looks like it’s going to be more secure, in fact this URL is not used to connect it to, only to declare the namespace.
Check the syntax of the affected tag, it’s probably malformed and a < character inside has been interpreted as an attribute.
For example, this code might cause this issue:
<!-- Malformed img tag -->
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="smiling cat" < />
<!-- Fixed img tag -->
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="smiling cat" />An invalid attribute has been found on an element. Check the affected tag to ensure attributes are well-formed, and if they are you can consider using custom data attributes.
The only permitted value for the xmlns:link attribute is http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink.
Although using https in the URL looks like it’s going to be more secure, in fact this URL is not used to connect it to, only to declare the namespace.