HTML Checking for Large Sites
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Start tag “a” seen but an element of the same type was already open.
An <a> tag can’t include other <a> tags inside. Most probable cause is an unclosed <a> tag, like in this example:
<a href="one.html">Page 1
<a href="two.html">Page 2</a>Related W3C validator issues
The target attribute on <a> elements can’t be blank.
This attribute defines the browsing context for links, that is, where should the linked documents be opened. This was used extensively on the now deprecated <frame> element, so you could give the name of the frame to open the document in, but is now more used to force links to open in a separate tab or window using target="_blank". Another option is using a name, so the new browsing context can be referred to on subsequent clicks on links with the same target.
For example, this will force the links to open on a new tab:
<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank">will open a blank tab</a>Learn more:
<a> tags can be used to link to an email address using the mailto protocol in the href attribute. Ensure that there is no space in the email address.
<a href="mailto: liza@example.com">This is wrong as it contains an space</a>
<a href="mailto:liza@example.com">This is OK</a>
Space characters are not allowed in href attributes. Instead, they should be converted to %20. In this example, the first line is invalid and the second is valid:
<a href="https://example.com/?s=some term">invalid</a>
<a href="https://example.com/?s=some%20term">valid</a>
The href attribute on an <a> tag contains an space, which is not allowed. Consider replacing space characters with “%20”.
The type attribute on <a> elements, when present, gives a hint on the MIME type of the linked resource, for example:
<a href="application/pdf" src="book.pdf">Read our book</a>
<a href="image/jpeg" src="photo.jpeg">See a photo</a>
That is, we’re talking about the type of the linked resource, not the type of the <a> element, as it’s sometimes misunderstood. The following example is invalid because button is not a valid MIME type.
<a href="/order.php" type="button">Submit</a>Learn more:
The <a> element requires either a href attribute, or a role attribute.
Learn more:
A <div> tag has been found as a direct child of an <ul> tag, and this is not allowed. For example, <ul><div><li>item</li></div></ul> is not valid, but <ul><li><div>item</div></li></ul> is valid as the direct child of <ul> is <li>.
The element X is not allowed as a child element of Y. For example, a <ul> element cannot have a <div> child element.
An </a> end tag has been found to violate nesting rules. <a> tags can’t include other <a> tags inside. Most probable cause is an unclosed <a> tag, like in this example:
<a href="one.html">Page 1
<a href="two.html">Page 2</a>
An end tag </strong> has been found in an incorrect place within the document, violating nesting rules. A common case is closing it before closing other nested tags, for example:
<!-- This line is incorrect as the <strong> tag was closed before the nested <a> tag -->
<strong><a href="#">link</strong></a>
<!--- This line is OK as every end tag respects the nesting rules -->
<strong><a href="#">link</a></strong>
An <a> element has been found in an invalid place within a <table> element.
For example, the following code would cause this issue:
<table>
<tr>
<a href="#">link</a>
</tr>
</table>
Instead, the <a> element should be inside a <td> element, as a <tr> can’t hold content directly:
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<a href="#">link</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
HTML documents are expected to start with a first line containing the Document Type Declaration, that defines the HTML version used. Since HTML5, it’s just <!DOCTYPE html>, which must appear before the start <html> tag.
Here’s an example of a minimal HTML5 document:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>
A stray start tag <html> has been found in the document. As this tag defines the start of the whole HTML document, it should appear only once.
A <label> tag can’t be used inside an <a> tag. Consider using other tags like <span>.
A <label> element cannot contain other <label> as a descendant. Check for nested elements or closing tags that may have been misinterpreted, for example:
<label>name</label></label>
The <caption> element specifies the caption (or title) of a table. It’s not allowed for a <caption> to contain another table.
Links created with the <a> element no longer accept a shape attribute. In order to define image maps, use the <area> element instead.
Learn more:
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