It is a good idea to run html-check on any HTML files that you plan to place on the WorldWideWeb, to ensure that they conform to the HTML grammar.
Here is an outline of what a minimal grammar-conforming file looks like:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
<!-- Please supply a descriptive title here -->
</TITLE>
<!-- Please supply a correct e-mail address here -->
<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:USERNAME@HOSTNAME">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The two comments <!-- ... --> indicate things you must supply.
Most of the content of a real HTML file will reside between <BODY>
and </BODY>.
If you get massive numbers of error messages from html-check, make sure that you have a valid DOCTYPE declaration line at the beginning of each HTML file. That line is essential, because it tells the SGML parser what grammar file to use.
Most current documents on the WorldWideWeb should conform to HTML 2.0, for which the above DOCTYPE declaration is appropriate. If you require newer features of HTML 3.0, then the DOCTYPE line should look like this:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3.0//EN" >Remember that there are many different WWW client browsers on the Internet, and your HTML files should be readily usable by all of them if you want your material to be used by others; thus, you should always try to avoid use of extensions offered by particular browsers. If html-check produces no output at all, then you can be confident that your files adhere to the HTML grammars.
Nelson H. F. Beebe, Ph.D. Center for Scientific Computing Department of Mathematics University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Tel: +1 801 581 5254 FAX: +1 801 581 4148 Email: <beebe@math.utah.edu> WWW URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe