WIll no longer pass W3C HTML validate

Just updated to the new ad_network.php and went to do an HTML verification here:
WDG HTML Validator

this is what I get:

Errors

    * Line 297, character 148:

... -real-estate-agents.org" id="h83jd7hf">Realtor</a> || <a hre ...

     [B] Error: ID H83JD7HF already defined[/B]
    * Line 297, character 54:

... source-book-reviews.com" id="h83jd7hf">Open Source Book Revi ...
                                 ^

      ID H83JD7HF first defined here
    * Line 297, character 267:

... ersicherungsanalyse.php" id="8dhf2kjj">Krankenversicherungsa ...
                                 ^

      [B]Error: value of attribute ID must start with a letter, not 8[/B]
    * Line 297, character 434:

... ww.bleepingcomputer.com" id="h83jd7hf">Computer tutorials fo ...
                                 ^

      Error: ID H83JD7HF already defined
    * Line 297, character 54:

... source-book-reviews.com" id="h83jd7hf">Open Source Book Revi ...
                                 ^

      ID H83JD7HF first defined here

Code (markup):

 

Will this hurt my serps by not being able to be HTML validated?

 

Cool, I had read on another thread that it could be a factor.

 

Hi Shawn

Must admit I hadn't picked up the non-validation (well spotted vauge). It will certainly put many of my clients off joining the network as they insist on validation of any html, css, etc.

Is there any chance of prepending a random four (or more) character string to the id that you can programmatically strip out prior to your ad validation? That way the html would validate and the chances of duplicate ids greatly reduced.

Here's hoping.

Mick

 

Why don't you just serve the plain text links if it's an issue?

 

Thanks Shawn

That would be great!

Hi SEBasic

The validation issue affects all ad network ads - the current implementation uses the id attribute of the <a> tag to store a ad identifier that Shawn uses to validate the ads. These id's can start with a digit which is illegal in the html specification and can also be duplicated if running multiple ads (again this is against specification). It really isn't an issue as far as any browser being able to display or interpret the html just a pain when some smarta**s duly informs you that every page on your site doesn't validate (slightly more of a pain when a client who paid for a validated site demands an explanation of why their site no longer validates ).

Mick

 

Oh...
Is this with the revised code that shawn released?

I must implement that...

 

How about assigning the current identifier to the class attribute instead?

Mick

 

It might be a problem for people that may be splicing in a class attribute before rendering the ad but any css could (and probably should) be applied by wrapping the links in a <div> anyway.

 

I can't see it causing any problems.

Shawn, could we then convert the banners into pure css?
It would reduce the size of the output (Not by a lot but it's something) and would also be a lot easier to apply styles to.

 

This is the current output

<table bgcolor=#CCCCCC cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=466 height=58>
<tr>
<td align=center valign=middle>
<b><a href="LINK URL">ANCHOR TEXT</a></b><br>
<font size=-1>HERE IS WHERE THE DESCRIPTION GOES</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Code (markup):

This could be replaced by:

<div class="CONTAININGLAYER">
<a href="LINK" class="IDENTIFIER">ANCHOR TEXT</a>
<span class="DESCRIPTION">HERE IS WHERE THE DESCRIPTION GOES</span>
</div>

Code (markup):

 

.CONTAININGLAYER {
      width: 468px;
      height: 60px;
      background-color: #ccc;
      border: 1px solid black;
      text-align: center;
      font-family: verdana, sans-serif;
}

Code (markup):

(I think that's all correct)..