I've created a simple blog - one entry.

It does not validate in (the included skins) "bluesky" or "guadaloupe"

(it appears that the problem is mostly that CSS id's are not included in double quotes. e.g. <p id=prelude> instead of <p id="prelude"> )

I'm confused. Because it validates in SOME skins (notably "originalb2" or
"custom") one would think that the skins themselves were at fault. But doesn't b2evo gen up the XHTML, regardless of what skin is being used?

Why do some validate and others do not? Can anyone else duplicate this behavior ... or am I all wet?

(I discovered this when I modified _formatting.php to turn OFF html_checking ... then ran validate XHTML on my blog, using a skin that validated FINE, but then suddently it DIDN'T (and it wasn't because of my entry).

Wacky.

Unfortunately lots of the older skins don't validate. Basically everything b2evo does it does according to standards, but it can't stop you from writing bad code in your _main.php or your whatever.css files. Skins therefore may or may not validate based on what the author coded. So let's say the skin author includes an image link in _main.php but does not do the "space slash" thing. b2evo will do what _main tells it to do, so you get a validation failure. Same with css - if the author uses something that works but isn't valid b2evo will not re-write the css to make it validate, so you get an error.

B2evo skins are written by people who then say "here have a skin". I suppose in a really harsh world b2evo might say "no thank you because it doesn't validate" but instead they say "thanks we'll offer it as a download", and include a handful in the installation zip. I personally think only validating skins should be in the installation zip, but I also think mountains were made to run off of so what do I know?

Want valid skins that work well in multiple browser and validate xhtml transitional and css2? So did I! [url=http://wonderwinds.com/weblog.php/2004/11/28/blown_out_so_i_might_as_well_code_someth]Start here[/url] which has a link to a test installation and will point you to [url=http://wonderwinds.com/weblog.php/2004/11/13/upgraded_skins_for_b2evolution]this old post[/url]

Ed

Wow, dude. You've really done it up right! Thanks for the link. I've downloaded a couple of your 'repaired' skins.

:?: I'm still confused by the invalidation though, not because of the skins (I had expected that in an open-source environment) ... but the fact that the validation failures were NOT with the CSS (as one would expect with skins), but the XHTML... the code gen'd up by b2evo.

I mean <div id=whatever> is NOT a CSS construct and THAT'S where the validation fails (barfs on the id=whatever, which it wants as id="whatever" ... quoted).

AND then, of course, the really odd part -for me-... it is INVALID once ... do a couple things (log into the BO, change skins, go back) and BOOM ... NOW it's VALID??!! Hello? Seems all strange to me.

But regardless ... I DO appreciate the link to those spiffed up skins. You've obviously put some work into the project & it is TOTALLY appreciated. :)

-scott

stk wrote:

... I mean <div id=whatever> is NOT a CSS construct and THAT'S where the validation fails (barfs on the id=whatever, which it wants as id="whatever" ... quoted) ...

Yeah but if it's in _main that way then that's what b2evo will serve up. Everything it does is driven by what's in _main and all the other skin folder files, but it never goes back and says "wait a minute - this guy ain't got no quote marks so I better add them". Thus, you can put invalid xhtml in your _main.php file and get an invalid web page. Calling for div id=noquotemarks is one example. An image without a space-slash is another. Adding a link to your _main that has a parameter string using "&" is a sure-fire validation killer. Adding it as a Link to URL in a post is no problem because b2evo takes care of the conversion to "& a m p ;" for you, but it doesn't do a review of your _main file.

EDIT: skins in b2evo is way more than just css! Specific selection of content, layout of content, and overall decoration of the content - it's the evoskin thing. That's why skins can be so radically different for the same exact 'content' it is displaying.

I understand what you mean when you say that skins contain more than CSS, because to determine the layout, you need to use XHTML to <div> things up & such.

I'm testing with a one blog that has one entry & I'm not editing the entry. The entry isn't the problem. So it must be the _main.php, right?

But if it's the _main.php file ... then it should NEVER validate (unless one tracks down the invalid code & corrects it in the _main.php file).

What I'm trying to say is that I'm using the SAME single blog entry and the SAME skin. Sometimes the skin is VALID and sometimes it is INVALID. How can the SAME skin be BOTH valid & invalid?

Wait. Maybe it has something to do with cookies or my 'default skin' (guadaloupe)?

If I go to my test blog at pct-hike.randsco.com/blogs/pct.php, chose the originalb2 skin & validate -> VALID. Go to bluesky & validate -> NOT VALID. go back to originalb2 skin & validate -> VALID. Close window.

Open new window & go to pct-hike.randsco.com/blogs/pct.php (last chosen skin, not the default skin is shown --- why? cookies?) Validate -> NOT VALID.

My question: How can the origb2 skin be BOTH valid & invalid?

I'm thinking that there's something ELSE going on that I don't understand, because I think the answer is that the origb2 skin IS valid ALL the time, but for some reason, I'm not passing the origb2 code to the validator.

You see what I mean? (If I choose origb2 skin AGAIN ... VALID)

It MUST have something to do with the way the cookie remembers/doles out the default skin?

Just a test, but if I choose a 'valid' skin (like origb2), then if my supposition is correct, this problem will 'disappear'.

EDIT: YEP! That's the problem. If I choose a VALID skin as a default, the problem is reversed. (i.e. - I can close a window with a NON-VALID skin showing, like bluesky, then open a new window & -i guess- cookies remembers that I was last looking at bluesky & opens my blog with bluesky and NOT with my default. Anyway ... if I validate bluesky, miracle of miracles - it's VALID (only I know it's not!).

Maybe you can explain the whole cookie thing and why my blog doesn't come up with my default skin?

the other thing people tend to forget is that if you are using a skin other than the default one (by defualt, I mean the skin that would be used in the event you were using skin switching, for instance, or perhaps testing another skin) the validation takes place on the skin the validator sees, NOT necessarily what one you see. validator doesnt pick a skin -- it sees whatever it sees.

Maybe you realized that already -- maybe not

The validator link in the standard b2evo skin doesn't use cookies. It uses the default skin, unless your url happens to contain the parameter bit for the skin. The standard link to the validator in the custom skin (and most others if I recall correctly) links to "blahblahblah?referer" meaning it checks the URL that sent the visitor to the validator. If you just picked a skin then it will do the check with the selected skin because ?skinname is part of the refering URL. IF you select a skin and then click something else, meaning the ?skinname is no longer part of the URL, then it will check the page in the default skin.

I changed all the validator links in my versions of the skins after chasing that one till I was blue in the face. Basically what I did was fed the validator the url you happen to be on with the skin selected.

Come to think of it I'll bet that can (and will) cause problems for some people because I probably force a "?skinname" on it. Thus if you use "index.php?blog=N" you would get a failure due to having 2 question marks in your URL. I wonder if I was smart enough to add a url tail the right way? Maybe.

ED-it: Whoo's pretty much on it. I was typing and didn't realize she replied, but it's basically the same message. The validator sees the URL it is refered to by, which means it will only switch skins if the URL contains that instructional bit.

Thanks Ed & whoo ... I was (slowly) coming around to this manner of thinking |-| ... just right after I started turning really blue-in-the-face. :lol:

I was testing the html_checker on/off function at the time (and for some reason) kept opening up new windows, seeing one skin, switching skins & getting validation anomolies. Aargh. (kinda funny now, but freaky at the time)

Okay ... I'm on track now. Thanks for shedding more light in my darkened corner!

Cheers & buenos noches