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5 replies

When testing my HTML, eBay SYI changes the code

P pocomoMember
I am playing around with HTML to learn how to make my own custom template. I have downloaded some free tools to edit and validate my HTML. I created some code that works but when I cut and paste it in the eBay SYI, SYI changes the code. The changed SYI code is invalid according to my free HTML validator and if I look up the HTML syntax, the validator is correct as far as I can see.

If I correct the code and cut and paste it in eBay SYI HTML tab, I see my correct code. If I change the eBay view to STANDARD, then change back to HTML view, the code is changed. If I change it back within the eBay SYI editor in HTML view, it gets changed back to the way SYI wants it if I go to Standard and HTML view. The code looks good in Standard view, but it only stays the way SYI wants the code to be.

When I run CSE Validator Lite 9.02, it says that some tags are wrong and recommends changing them. Specifically table HTML for valign and align syntax is reversed. Also double quotes are recommended by the Validator for some attributes.

Case # 1

Good code from my validator

vAlign=middle align=center

Bad code changed in eBay SYI

vAlign=center align=middle

Now according to these pages, this is wrong

http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/att_td_valign.asp

http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/att_td_align.asp

Case # 2

Validator recommends quotes

bgColor="#ffffcc"

eBay SYI removes them

bgColor=#ffffcc

Here is a piece of sample code

http://PracticeWriter.com/?5E556

I am very curious about this behavior. Is it just the eBay SYI doing this? What about Turbo Lister? What happens if I paste it in Auctiva editor? Sorry, I could do this myself but because I don't know HTML, I find it long and tedious to try things out and know if it is right or wrong or if it is doing "funny" things to the code. I have to look up each HTML syntax online to verify it. A good learning process but a pain in the butt.

Is there other "repairs" that eBay SYI does without telling you?
Richard
Last edited {1}
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D dannoMember
Hi,

Well, coding really does have different issues, depending on the tool and standard.

Stricts rules would have all the tags and attribute names in lower case and the attribute values in quotes, e.g.

<td align="center" valign="middle">This is a table cell.</td>

Some coding tools prefer CSS style over traditional HTML and/or won't readily accept depreciated tags and attributes. Some tools have just plain old-fashion bugs.

I would suggest that W3Schools is a good source for correct coding standards.

You might try all lower case tags and attributes and all the values in quotes. See if that helps.

Danno
P pocomoMember
I understand that HTML is evolving and getting more enhancements and more structure and stricter rules. But at the same time it has a need to support older standards and faze them out (deprecated is the term, correct?).

What really bothered me was eBay SYI changing correct code options of valign=middle to the incorrect code valign=center. At W3schools, it does not say that the incorrect code was ever correct or deprecated. Then the correct align=center is changed to the incorrect align=middle. All this on the TD command in a table.

Danno, I don't know if you understood that that eBay SYI was doing this. That was my question. Am I doing something wrong or is eBay SYI actually changing the code? Can you confirm that it is eBay SYI and not me? I am very curious about this. And are there any other known quirks. I tried doing a Google search but didn’t find anything.

eBay SYI seems to be validating code and editing it and making changes. Is this normal? I know it parses out all the blanks and any structure which makes it impossible to view the code in HTML view and make any sense of it. So I cut and paste in and out of my editor to see what is going on.

I still have more to learn but it is hard to learn when not everyone is playing with the same rules for the game. I waste a lot of time chasing things that just don’t work the way they are expected to work.

Thanks for you help and any more thoughts on this.
D dannoMember
quote:
Am I doing something wrong or is eBay SYI actually changing the code?


It could be a bug or it could be the use of part caps and part lower case on the valign ("vAlign=middle" in your prior post to which I suggested lower case and quotes on the value valign="middle") that's somehow confusing the SYI, i.e. like it thinks the cap A means you coded Align. I don't think the Auctiva one-page makes that error, and valign="middle" is correct for applicable tags, like <td>.

Is it normal? Well, I've seen the bad behavior on occasion over the years. I assume their encoder is trying to normalize code and correct errors (or what it thinks are errors) on the basis of assisting novice users and limiting bad code on the site. In fact, that error for valign seems familiar.

There is a work-around for valign in CSS.

style="align-vertical:middle"

http://www.w3schools.com/css/p...s_vertical-align.asp

Danno
P pocomoMember
I was researching more tools for HTML validation and found this site for validating eBay auctions.

http://auctionrepair.com/exam.html

IT confirms that the eBay-generated code is "incorrect" and does not meet W3 standards. It specifically flags the center and middle options as being reversed on eBay.

The listing I tested has 106 errors and 6 warnings. A lot of the flagged errors are the valign and align problem discussed as well as missing " quotes around some color values and capitalization of HTML tags. There are a few others I will look up just to learn.

I just posted this in case someone else read this and was wondering the outcome. I just wanted to complete the threads discussion to a definite conclusion on the align and valign issue.

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