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5: <head>
6: <title>About the W3C CSS Validation Service</title>
7: <link rev="made" href="mailto:www-validator-css@w3.org" />
8: <link rev="start" href="./" title="Home Page" />
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16: <body>
1.6 ot 17: <div id="banner">
18: <h1 id="title"><a href="http://www.w3.org/"><img alt="W3C" width="110" height="61" id="logo" src="./images/w3c.png" /></a>
19: <a href="./"><span>CSS Validation Service</span></a></h1>
20: <p id="tagline">
21: Check Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and (X)HTML documents with style sheets
22: </p>
23: </div>
24: <div class="doc">
1.1 ot 25:
26: <h2>About the CSS Validator</h2>
27:
28: <h3 id="TableOfContents">Table of contents</h3>
29: <div id="toc">
30: <ol>
31: <li>About this Service
32: <ol>
33: <li><a href="#what">What is this? Do I need it?</a></li>
34: <li><a href="#help">The explanation above is incomprehensible! Help!</a></li>
35: <li><a href="#reference">So, this is the authority on what is correct CSS and what isn't?</a></li>
1.8 ot 36: <li><a href="#validCSS">What does “Valid CSS” mean? Which version of CSS does this validator use?</a></li>
1.1 ot 37: <li><a href="#free">How much does it cost?</a></li>
38: <li><a href="#who">Who wrote this tool? Who maintains it?</a></li>
39: <li><a href="#contact">How do I contact the authors? Report a bug?</a></li>
40: <li><a href="#participate">Can I help?</a></li>
41: </ol>
42: </li>
43: <li>Developers' corner
44: <ol>
45: <li><a href="#code">What is the CSS Validator written in? Is the source available somewhere?</a></li>
46: <li><a href="#install">Can I install and run the CSS Validator myself?</a></li>
47: <li><a href="#api">Can I build an application upon this validator? Is there an API?</a></li>
48: </ol>
49: </li>
50: </ol>
51: </div><!-- toc -->
52: <h3 id="about">About this Service</h3>
53:
54: <h4 id="what">What is this? Do I need it?</h4>
55:
56: <p>The W3C CSS Validation Service is a free software created by the W3C
57: to help Web designers and Web developers check Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
58: It can be used on this <a href="./">free service</a> on the web, or downloaded
59: and used either as a java program, or as a java servlet on a Web server.</p>
60:
61: <p>Do <em>you</em> need it? If you are a Web developer or a Web designer, this
62: tool will be an invaluable ally. Not only will it compare your style sheets to the
63: CSS specifications, helping you find errors, typos, or incorrect uses of CSS, it will
64: also tell you when your CSS poses some risks in terms of usability.</p>
65:
66: <h4 id="help">The explanation above is incomprehensible! Help!</h4>
67: <p>Most documents on the Web are written in a computer language called HTML. This language
68: can be used to create pages with structured information, links, and multimedia objects. For
69: color, text, and layout, HTML uses a styling language called CSS, short for "Cascading Style Sheets".
70: What this tool does is help people authoring CSS check, and fix if necessary, their CSS Style Sheets.</p>
71:
72: <h4 id="reference">So, this is the authority on what is correct CSS and what isn't?</h4>
73: <p>No. It is a helpful and reliable tool, but a software tool, and like every software, it has some
74: <a href="http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/buglist.cgi?product=CSSValidator">bugs and issues</a>.
75: The actual reference on Cascading Style Sheets are the <a href="http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/#specs">CSS
76: Specifications</a>.</p>
77:
1.8 ot 78: <h4 id="validCSS">What does “Valid CSS” mean? Which version of CSS does this validator use?</h4>
79: <p>According to the <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/conform.html#valid-style-sheet"
80: title="CSS 2.1 Specification – Conformance: requirements and recommendations">CSS 2.1 Specification</a>:
81: <q cite="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/conform.html">The validity of a style sheet depends on the level of
82: CSS used for the style sheet. […] valid CSS 2.1 style sheet must be written according to the grammar of CSS 2.1.
83: Furthermore, it must contain only at-rules, property names, and property values defined in this specification.</q></p>
84:
85: <p>By default, this validator checks style sheets against the grammar, properties and values defined in the
86: <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/"
87: title="Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification">CSS 2.1</a> specification,
88: but other CSS profiles can be checked against by using the options.</p>
89:
90: <p>CSS is an evolving language, and it is considered by many that “CSS” is a single grammar
91: (the one defined in the latest specification) with a number of properties and acceptable
92: values defined in various profiles.In a future version of this validator, the default behavior may be to check
93: style sheets against that latest “CSS grammar” and the cloud of all standardized CSS properties and values.</p>
94:
1.1 ot 95: <h4 id="free">How much does it cost?</h4>
96: <p>Nothing. The service is free. The source is <a href="DOWNLOAD.html">open</a> and you are free
97: to download it, use it, modify it, distribute it,
98: and <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/copyright-software">more</a>.
99: If you really like it, you are welcome to <a href="#participate">join the project</a> or donate to W3C via the
100: <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/sup">W3C supporters program</a>, but nobody forces you to.</p>
101:
102: <h4 id="who">Who wrote this tool? Who maintains it?</h4>
103: <p>W3C maintains and hosts the tool, thanks to the work and contributions by W3C staff,
104: volunteer developers and translators. See the <a href="thanks.html">credits and acknowledgments page</a>
105: for details. <a href="#participate">You too can help</a>.</p>
106:
107: <h4 id="participate">Can I help?</h4>
108: <p>Of course. If you are a java programmer, you can help the CSS Validator project by
109: checking out the <a href="#code">code</a>,
110: adopting and fixing <a href="http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/buglist.cgi?product=CSSValidator">bugs</a>,
111: or helping build new features.</p>
112: <p>But you do not need to be a coder to help build and maintain this tool: you can also help improve the
113: documentation, participate in translating the validator in your language, or subscribe to the
114: <a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-validator-css/">mailing-list</a> and discuss about the tool
115: or help other users.</p>
116:
117: <h4 id="contact">Any other question?</h4>
118: <p>If you have any question regarding CSS or the CSS validator, check out the available
119: <a href="Email">mailing-lists and forums</a>. But before that, make sure that your question
120: or comment is not covered already by the <a href="http://www.websitedev.de/css/validator-faq">CSS Validator
121: <acronym title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</acronym> document</a>.</p>
122:
123:
124: <h3 id="dev">Developers' corner</h3>
125: <h4 id="code">What is the CSS Validator written in? Is the source available somewhere?</h4>
126: <p>The W3C CSS validator is written using the java language, and yes, its source
127: is available, using CVS: you can
128: <a href="http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/2002/css-validator/">browse the code online</a>
129: or follow the instructions there to download the whole source tree. For a quick
130: overview of the classes used in the CSS Validator code, check out the
131: <a href="README.html">README</a> file.</p>
132:
133: <h4 id="install">Can I install and run the CSS Validator myself?</h4>
134: <p>It is possible to download and install the CSS validator, and to run it either from the command line, or
135: as a servlet in a Web server. Read the <a href="RUN.html">instructions</a> for installation and use.</p>
136:
137: <h4 id="api">Can I build an application upon this validator? Is there an API?</h4>
1.4 ot 138: <p>Yes, and <a href="api.html">yes</a>. The CSS Validator has a (RESTful) <a href="api.html">SOAP interface</a>
1.1 ot 139: which should make it reasonably easy to build applications (Web or otherwise) upon it. Good manners and
140: respectful usage of shared resources are of course customary: make sure your applications sleep() between
141: calls to the validator, or install and run your own instance of the validator.</p>
1.6 ot 142: </div>
1.1 ot 143: <ul class="navbar" id="menu">
144: <li><strong><a href="./" title="Home page for the W3C CSS Validation Service">Home</a></strong> <span class="hideme">|</span></li>
1.5 ot 145: <li><a href="documentation.html" title="Documentation for the W3C CSS Validation Service">Documentation</a> <span class="hideme">|</span></li>
146: <li><a href="DOWNLOAD.html" title="Download the CSS validator">Download</a> <span class="hideme">|</span></li>
147: <li><a href="Email.html" title="How to provide feedback on this service">Feedback</a> <span class="hideme">|</span></li>
148: <li><a href="thanks.html" title="Credits and Acknowlegments">Credits</a><span class="hideme">|</span></li>
1.1 ot 149:
150: </ul>
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