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RE: Why Doesn't IE5 use the DTD to Validate?


Subject: RE: Why Doesn't IE5 use the DTD to Validate?
From: Kay Michael <Michael.Kay@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 12:43:05 +0100

Title: RE: Why Doesn't IE5 use the DTD to Validate?

> > As a content provider, I can see little need for *client-side* validation,
> > except in certain special cases. Validation against a DTD is a check for
> > structural validity, and should be carried out by the author prior to
> > serving the document.
>
> Yes, it should be. But hey, if it works in the browser without, why
> bother?
>
A very interesting dilemma!

One nice answer would be that a document, once validated, is marked with some kind of seal that tells the browser it doesn't have to be validated again. Of course, the seal must not be easily forgeable, it should be based on a checksum so it is invalidated when the document changes. The seal could be contained in a processing instruction.

Another pragmatic solution: the browser should select a random sample of 5% of all XML documents for validation, and put up a prompt saying "please tell the author of this document that it is invalid", before reparsing it without validation.

Are the XML conformance rules flexible enough to allow such solutions?

Mike Kay


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