Thread: Validating a text area with html inside

How can I validate a text area that has HTML within it?

I have this for it:

Code:

<div class="imagehold">
<textarea rows="10" cols="10" id="coded">
<a href="http://www.cloud9comments.com/"><img src="file:///C:/Users/Michael/Desktop/My%20Templates%20and%20Sites/Comment/images/glitterplaceholder.gif" alt="" /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.cloud9comments.com/">Get your free comments by clicking here!</a>

</textarea>
</div>

Thanks!

I am not going to give you the answer to this one, I want you to learn, so I want you to go to w3c and validate it, then tell me what the validator said and what you think it means...

I have had a look and dont understand the messages at all lol just tried html tidy to see what it said and it removes all the code and leaves the text.

paste it here and maybe I could give you a clue or two

It wont validate due to the tags from the cms but this is it:

Code removed lol

I meant paste what w3c says about it lol

Code:

  Line 11, Column 41:         document type does not allow element "a" here  …ref="http://www.cloud9comments.com/"><img src="images/glitterplaceholder.gif"           ✉     
                  The element named above was found in a context where it is not allowed.       This could mean that you have incorrectly nested elements -- such as a       "style" element in the "body" section instead of inside "head" -- or       two elements that overlap (which is not allowed).     
            One common cause for this error is the use of XHTML syntax in HTML       documents. Due to HTML's rules of implicitly closed elements, this error       can create cascading effects. For instance, using XHTML's "self-closing"       tags for "meta" and "link" in the "head" section of a HTML document may       cause the parser to infer the end of the "head" section and the       beginning of the "body" section (where "link" and "meta" are not       allowed; hence the reported error).     
  Line 11, Column 101:         document type does not allow element "br" here  …rplaceholder.gif" alt="" /></a><br /> ✉     
                  The element named above was found in a context where it is not allowed.       This could mean that you have incorrectly nested elements -- such as a       "style" element in the "body" section instead of inside "head" -- or       two elements that overlap (which is not allowed).     
            One common cause for this error is the use of XHTML syntax in HTML       documents. Due to HTML's rules of implicitly closed elements, this error       can create cascading effects. For instance, using XHTML's "self-closing"       tags for "meta" and "link" in the "head" section of a HTML document may       cause the parser to infer the end of the "head" section and the       beginning of the "body" section (where "link" and "meta" are not       allowed; hence the reported error).     
  Line 12, Column 41:         document type does not allow element "a" here  …ref="http://www.cloud9comments.com/">Get your free comments by clicking here!           ✉     
                  The element named above was found in a context where it is not allowed.       This could mean that you have incorrectly nested elements -- such as a       "style" element in the "body" section instead of inside "head" -- or       two elements that overlap (which is not allowed).     
            One common cause for this error is the use of XHTML syntax in HTML       documents. Due to HTML's rules of implicitly closed elements, this error       can create cascading effects. For instance, using XHTML's "self-closing"       tags for "meta" and "link" in the "head" section of a HTML document may       cause the parser to infer the end of the "head" section and the       beginning of the "body" section (where "link" and "meta" are not       allowed; hence the reported error).     
   

Thats the whack :D

[FONT=monospace]"document type does not allow element here" [/FONT]is the biggest clue mate...[FONT=monospace]

[/FONT]in other words its basically saying [FONT=monospace]'you cant do that'


[/FONT]

Well it is within the body of it, the only thing I can think of is that it needs to be wrapped with form tags possibly?

no, you dont get it.. the idea of that is an example of the problem, its not the problem you are having..

you have incorrectly nested a tag, and they give an example of an incorrectly nested tag.. not necessarily the same tag you have used.

sometimes nesting the tag can be the solution, but not in this case.. it has to be moved as far as I am aware