HTML Checking for Large Sites

Table rows on the same <table> element must have the same number of columns, which comes determined by the first tr row.

For example, this table is wrong as the first row defines 2 columns, while the second row tries to use 4 columns:

<table>
    <tr>
      <td>Liza</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
      <td>Jimmy</td>
      <td>14</td>
    </tr>
</table>

Learn more:

• MDN: HTML table basics

A <table> contains a <tr> row that has less <td> columns than the column count established by the first row. Check the table to ensure all rows have the same number of columns.

For example, in the following table, the first <tr> row defines that it’s 2 columns wide, but the second <tr> row tries to use only 1 column:

<table>
  <!-- This first row sets the table as 2 columns wide -->
  <tr>
    <td>First</td>
    <td>Second</td>
  </tr>

  <!-- This second row has only 1 column -->
  <tr>
    <td>Wrong</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Learn more:

• MDN: The table element
• HTML Spec: The table element

The <table> element does not accept a height attribute. Use CSS instead.

The width and height attributes on <img> elements expect a digit to specify the dimension in pixels. It should not contain units, letters or percent signs.

You can achieve this using CSS instead, for example:

<!-- Invalid syntax, the height attribute expects only digits -->
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="cat" height="auto" />

<!-- Valid syntax using CSS -->
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="cat" style="height: auto"  />

Learn more:

• MDN: the img element

The <iframe> element, used to embed another document inside the current document, accepts both attributes width and height which must be valid non-negative integers. Percentages are not allowed for these attributes.

Check the iframe spec.

<img> elements accept a width attribute to specify the size in pixels. This value can only be an integer, it should not contain units or %. If you need to specify a percentage width, you can do that with CSS:

<img src="photo.jpg" alt="red car" style="width:100%;">

The width and height attributes on <img> and <iframe> elements expect a digit to indicate the number of pixels. Ensure that this attribute contains only digits.

For example:

<!-- This is invalid because width is not a digit -->
<img width="225px" height="100px" alt="cat" src="cat.jpg" />

<!-- This is valid -->
<img width="225" height="100" alt="cat" src="cat.jpg" />

A CSS definition for background-image could not be understood by the parser. Check its definition to ensure that it’s well formed and that it contains an appropriate value.

The specified CSS filter is not a standard one, and may only work in some browsers.

Check out the Filter Effects W3C Working Draft

font-display isn’t a CSS property, it’s a descriptor for use with the @font-face at-rule.

Learn more:

• Can I Use… font-display
• MDN: font-display
• MDN: At-rules
• W3C Validator issue on font-display

An invalid CSS property is being used. Properties starting with mso- are commonly defined by Microsoft products like Office and Outlook.

These properties, like mso-spacerun, mso-fareast-font-family, mso-bidi-font-weight, mso-margin-bottom-alt, mso-margin-top-alt and others starting with mso- are not standard CSS properties.

Padding properties, unline margin properties, don’t accept negative values. Read more about the CSS box model

CSS styles could not be parsed, check the indicated line to find what caused the parser to fail. Common causes are unclosed curly brackets or comments, missing semicolons or unexpected or empty properties.

Read more about CSS: Cascading Style Sheets syntax

The value break-word for the property word-break is deprecated, you should replace it with a valid value.

According to the CSS Text Module Level 3 spec:

For compatibility with legacy content, the word-break property also supports a deprecated break-word keyword. When specified, this has the same effect as word-break: normal and overflow-wrap: anywhere, regardless of the actual value of the overflow-wrap property.

Learn more:

• MDN: word-break
• CSS Text Module Level 3: word-break property
• W3C Validator issue on break-word

A CSS definition for an X property could not be understood by the parser. Check it to ensure that it’s well formed and that it contains an appropriate value.

A table row tr has been found, containing no td cells. Check the table and remove empty rows.

Table contents is organized in rows using the <tr> element, which must contain cells using the <td> element, as in this example:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Age</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Liza</td>
      <td>12</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Jimmy</td>
      <td>14</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

A tr with no td cells on it will raise an issue, as in this example:

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Age</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>

    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Jimmy</td>
      <td>14</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Note that self-closing <tr/> elements also count as empty rows as are like <tr></tr>.

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>

A <table> contains an incoherent number of columns on one of its rows. Check the structure of the table to find the invalid row.

For example, in the following table, the first <tr> row defines that it’s 2 columns wide, but the second <tr> row tries to use 5 columns by means of a colspan attribute:

<table>
  <!-- This first row sets the table as 2 columns wide -->
  <tr>
    <td>First</td>
    <td>Second</td>
  </tr>

  <!-- This second row tries to use 5 columns -->
  <tr>
    <td colspan="5">Wrong</td>
  </tr>
</table>

Learn more:

• MDN: The table element
• HTML Spec: The table element

<td> elements no longer accept an align attribute. This can be achieved using CSS like this:

<td style="text-align:center;">content</td>

<img> tags no longer accept a border attribute. This can be defined using CSS instead, for example:

<img src="..." alt="..." style="border:0;" />

The <center> tag is no longer valid in HTML, you should use CSS instead, for example:

<p style="text-align:center">this text will be centered</p>

The <caption> element specifies the caption (or title) of a table. It’s not allowed for a <caption> to contain another table.

The <font> element, used to define the font face, size and color in previous versions of HTML, is no longer valid in HTML5. Instead, you should rely on CSS styles.

For example, you can define a font size of 12px, bold text with inline styles like this:

<p style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold;">some text</p>

Learn more about CSS fonts:

• MDN: CSS font

The HTML <style> element contains style information for a document, or part of a document, defined in CSS. This element does not need the type attribute anymore, so it should be omitted.

For example, this style defines that <p> elements should be in red color.

<style type="text/css">
p {
  color: red;
}
</style>
<p>This text will be red.</p>

But, the type attribute is not used anymore, so we can just use this:

<style>
p {
  color: red;
}
</style>
<p>This text will be red.</p>

Read more:

• MDN: The Style information element
• WordPress plugin: Type Attribute Warnings Removal

<td> elements no longer accept a valign attribute. This can be achieved using CSS like this:

<td style="vertical-align:middle;">content</td>

You’re using an attribute X that is no longer valid for element Y, but you can use CSS to achieve the same effect.