Weblint, Version 1.020 Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 Neil Bowers. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the "Artistic License". You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this distribution, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weblint is a syntax and minimal style checker for HTML: a perl script which picks fluff off html pages, much in the same way traditional lint picks fluff off C programs. Files to be checked are passed on the command-line: % weblint *.html Warnings are generated a la lint -- (line #): . E.g.: home.html(9): malformed heading - open tag is

, but closing is

Weblint includes the following features: * by default checks for HTML 3.2 (Wilbur) * 46 different checks and warnings * Warnings can be enabled/disabled individually, as per your preference * basic structure and syntax checks * warnings for use of unknown elements and element attributes. * context checks (where a tag must appear within a certain element). * overlapped or illegally nested elements. * do IMG elements have ALT text? * catches elements which should only appear once * flags obsolete elements. * support for user and site configuration files * stylistic checks * checks for html which is not portable across all browsers * flags markup embedded in comments, since this can confuse some browsers * support for Netscape (v4), and Microsoft (v4) HTML extensions All warnings can be enabled or disabled, using a configuration file, $HOME/.weblintrc. A sample configuration file, weblintrc, is included in the distribution. Weblint also supports a site-wide configuration file, which lets a group of people share a common configuration. See the man page for details. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installation NOTE: Certain versions of perl have bugs which are triggered by weblint. You shouldn't experience problems if you have 4.036, or 5.004. A simple Makefile is provided, in which you may want to modify BINDIR and MANDIR, which specify where the weblint script and manpage should be installed. Weblint uses the `newgetopt.pl' and `find.pl' libraries, which are part of the standard perl library, so this will hopefully not cause any problems. Please let me know if it does. The manpage (weblint.1) should be installed in a directory where it will be picked up by man (e.g., /usr/local/man/man1 on our machines). A postscript version of the manpage (weblint.ps) is available at: ftp://ftp.cre.canon.co.uk/pub/weblint/weblint.ps Weblint is available via anonymous ftp, either as a gzip'd tar file, or zip'd archive: ftp://ftp.cre.canon.co.uk/pub/weblint/weblint-1.020.tar.gz ftp://ftp.cre.canon.co.uk/pub/weblint/weblint-1.020.zip or you can get it from the weblint home page: http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint/ The home page also includes a list of other ftp sites where you can get weblint. The weblint distribution includes a simple regression testsuite. Run the testsuite with either of the following commands: % make test % ./test.pl If any of the tests fail, please mail the logfile (test.log) to me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you find this useful. Comments, suggestions and bug reports are welcome, see my email address or home page, given below. Sample html helps when tracking down problems. I maintain two email lists: weblint-announce@cre.canon.co.uk Announcements for new versions of weblint. weblint-victims@cre.canon.co.uk Discussion related to weblint (such as what features should be added), as well as announcements for new versions of weblint, and pre-release testing. Email me if you want to be added to either list. You don't need to be on both lists. Neil Bowers Canon Research Centre Europe http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/