sgmls HTML validation

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Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 10:43:31 -0800
To: www-talk@nxoc01.cern.ch
From: kevin@scic.intel.com (Kevin Altis)
Subject: sgmls HTML validation

It has been mentioned here a few times that you can't validate HTML with
WWW client X. In order to do validation you have to have an SGML parser and
an HTML(+) DTD, right? A few more questions and a suggestion.
Is "sgmls" the only public domain or maybe free SGML parser available? What
are people using commercially?
Do we have working DTDs for HTML and HTML+?
Which machines has sgmls been ported to? It seems like validation may be
Unix centric right now.
How long does validation usually take say for a formatted 3-4 page HTML file?

If validation doesn't take too long and an HTML file could be passed on to
an HTTP server (PUT?) then maybe sgmls validation could be handled like any
other server query though it would be big query? On the ncsa httpd this
might be /htbin/sgmls. I'm sure Tony will have support in Plexus, fifteen
minutes after he receives this post ;-)

If sgmls has been ported to a lot of Unix platforms, DOS/Windows and the
Mac... maybe this isn't an issue, but after asking around it seems a lot of
people are "validating" their HTML by seeing if it works with their main
client software!

ka