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What are all these errors?
An automated validation service has no feelings. If you were to ask it, “How’s my
hair looking?”, it might bluntly reply, “Well, it’s bad—it’s uneven at the back,
there are tangles here, here, and here, and the color’s all wrong.” My point is that
anautomated serviceofthis type won’t go easy on you—all errors will be reported
in a matter-of-fact way.
Don’t let this get you down—it happens to all web designers and programmers.
And don’t be annoyed with yourself if you fail to understand everything you’re
being told. It really can be a case of information overload.
The trick is to fix the obvious faults—those that you can easily identify—first.
Then, when you’ve uploaded the amended pages, try validating again. You may
find that fixing some standard problems also resolves others that you were strug-
gling with. One simple dilemma is often the cause of many other problems.
If you’restillunableto pass validation, makeyour way over to the SitePointforums,
specifically the HTML forum,
20
and post your question there. Tell the people
you’re a newbie after some advice, and you should receive that more caring,
tactful approach that the validator so sorely lacks!
Promoting Your Website
If you’ve confirmed that your web pages are using valid HTML and CSS, and you’re
confident that they’re widely accessible and look good on different browsers, you
should now think about how you’ll promote your website.
Promoting your site can be a project in its own right. SitePoint offers kits for those
with a marketing budget, including The Search Engine Marketing Kit
21
and The
Web Design Business Kit.
22
As a newcomer to the world of web design, though,
these are probably too ambitious for the time being; I mention them to indicate how
big this topic is in its own right (not to give you the big sales pitch!). So, what pro-
motions can you undertake that won’t cost you an arm and a leg?
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http://www.sitepoint.com/launch/htmlforum/
21
http://www.sitepoint.com/books/sem1/
22
http://www.sitepoint.com/books/freelance1/
Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS
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