Getting a lot of errors when attempting to validate this form

Howdy. I was directed here by a member from another forum who said this is the place to ask more advanced questions, so here goes:

I'm currently working on converting my HTML pages into XHTML - getting a jump start on the 'next big thing' in web design. It's going well except for one minor problem. I have a form that uses listboxes as a navigation method and the W3C Strict XHTML 1.0 validator is spitting out a whopping 405 errors regarding this form.

Could someone take a look at my code and tell me what I'm doing wrong? It'd be greatly appreciated.

The page is:

http://www.elitegurus.com/001.html

Here's the URL to the validator with all the options already inputted:

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elitegurus.com%2F001.html&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&verbose=1

I hope I posted this in the right place - I checked the rules and all the FAQs. If not, could a mod/admin move this for me? Many thanks.

Several of your problems are derived from not using quotes.

<select size=10
should be
<select size="10"

and

<option value=319.html class="b3">
should be
<option value="319.html" class="b3">

That should fix litterally a few hundered of the errors, after that post again and I'll take another look.





Edit: I almost forgot, welcome to the forums! This is truely a great place, just you wait and see.

Edit: I almost forgot, welcome to the forums! This is truely a great place, just you wait and see.

Yeah, welcome to zeroality. Wooh, people are recommending us, they must like is :p

Woohoo, down to 13 errors! Yeah, I can see that this is a great place. ^_^

Alright, go re-validate it and see what those 13 errors are about, if you could?

Many thanks.

if you dont need the form name then just remove it otherwise use id
ex.
<form name="nav">

still missing some quotes
ex.
<select size="10" onchange=document.location.href=document.nav.Gen1.options[docu

1. All form elements must have an action. <form action="something here">

2. Yup, still need quotes for javascript, onchange="somestuff"

I'm currently working on converting my HTML pages into XHTML - getting a jump start on the 'next big thing' in web design.
Just to let you know, XHTML isn't the "next big thing" in web design as much as standards is. So I would put less stress into converting your site to XHTML (which is still being served as HTML (http://www.hixie.ch/advocacy/xhtml) anyway) and more into moving the site away from a nested table layout... essentially structuring your page a little more semantically.

But you're taking all the right steps, though... validation is a great place to start. :thumbsup:

Alright, down to 4 errors. Yes - the forms need to have a name, that's how the javascript works.

See the form name is "nav2" and the script is like: onchange="document.location.href=document.nav2.Gen2.options[document.nav2.Gen2.selectedIndex].value"

So how do I make it stop giving errors?

As for adding actions, what should I add? I don't think that's it. The validator is just complaining about the 'name' parameter.

To rmedek - I read somewhere that HTML was becoming outdated so I decided to just switch to XHTML.

As for using tables - yeah, I've already been lectured on that. The problem is, I have 400 pages already laid out in tables and converting it to div would be a major pain.

I like tables anyway - hey, at least I'm not using FRAMES anymore! LOL. I had a whole site made with inline frames. :eek:

Alright, I added a blank action to all of them. That got rid of the action errors.

Now what about the name?

just delete the name. It doesn't do anything....

That removes the functionality.

So yes, it does do something. :)

I've tried

<form="nav" action="">

<form id="nav" action="">

<form action="">

They validate fine but the form loses functionality. The only thing that seems to work so far is:

<form name="nav" action="">

I might have to live with the 3 errors but would like to get it fixed.

Woah.. I never knew there was a 3rd generation to pokemon.

Im confused, what is the name for, are you using that to refer to it in your css?

<form name="nav" action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.nav.Gen1.options[document.nav.Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">

See the document.nav.Gen1 ? Without the name, it doesn't know which form the code is referring to since I have 3 of them.

<form name="nav2" action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.nav2.Gen2.options[document.nav2.Gen2.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen2">

And so forth..

this might work, haven't tested but its a good possibility. Try
<form name="nav" action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=this.form.Gen1.options[document.nav.Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">

You might be better off using the bracket notation. Glenng has some good documentation about this. For the first form. You can start with 0 then the forms after that go in subsequent order, so your nav2 would be document.forms[1].Gen2. etc.
<form name="nav" action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.forms[0].Gen1.options[document.nav.Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">
You could lose the name for both instances.

<form action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.forms[0].Gen1.options[document.nav.Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">

That don't work. Neither did this:

<form action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.this.form.Gen1.options[document.nav.Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">

Note that I don't know javascript, per se. A friend gave me that script and I can't ask him because his computer went fubar. :(

So any recommendations will have to be in the form of literal code - not 'suggestions'.

This should work.
<form action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=this.form.Gen1.options[this.form.Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">
Notice the lack of the word document before it. You also need to change it in the other places where you used the form name.
This also works.
<form method="post" action="">
<div>
<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.forms[0].Gen1.options[document.forms[0].Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">

Since its the first form on the page you start with 0 the next form will have a 1 and so forth. You might be better off just using this.form it will spare you the time of counting which form it is.

...and if that still doesn't work, perhaps this might...

<form id="nav" action="">

<select size="10" onchange="document.location.href=document.getElementById('nav').Gen1.options[document.getElementById('nav').Gen1.selectedIndex].value" name="Gen1">


Please note that Aerospace's suggestion is a cleaner solution and is preferable.

Awesome! Thanks mindlesslemming, I used the getElement code.

Seriously. Thanks so much y'all! I tried getting this resolved in another forum but all they did was make snide comments on the semantics of my site. >_>

I'll definitely come here for all future problems and recommend this forum to everyone! Thanks again. Have a great day y'all!

Sighs, my suggestions were ideal. Not every browser supports getElementById. I even gave you the examples. I even tested your site on my local machine using the methods I was telling you to use and they worked.

You're right, I tried it in another browser and it didnt' work.

I used yours instead, thanks.