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weblint 1.020(1L) weblint 1.020(1L)
NAME
weblint - pick fluff off web pages (HTML)
SYNOPSIS
weblint [ -d id ] [ -e id ] [ -f filename ] [ -i ] [ -l ] [ -s ] [
-stderr ] [ -t ] [ -todo ] [ -help ] [ -U ] [ -urlget command ] [
-v ] [ -version ] [ -warnings ] [ -x extension ] file1 .. fileN
DESCRIPTION
Weblint is a Perl script which picks fluff off HTML pages. Files to be
checked are passed on the command-line:
% weblint foobar.html ./dodgy-files/ index.html
If any of the arguments are directories weblint will recurse in the
directory, and check any HTML files found. If an argument is a URL,
then weblint will get the file using a URL retrieval program, and then
check the file:
% weblint http://www.foobar.com/
By default weblint will use lynx to retrieve URLs, but this can be
over-ridden. A filename of `-' specifies that weblint should read from
standard input:
% lynx -source http://www.foobar.com/ | weblint -
Warnings are generated a la lint:
home.html(9): unmatched </A> (no matching <A> seen).
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?
* 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, and Microsoft HTML extensions
OPTIONS
-d warning-identifier
Disable the warning associated with the identifier. Multiple
identifiers can be specified, with a comma between identifiers.
-e warning-identifier
Enable the warning associated with the identifier. Multiple
identifiers can be specified, with a comma between identifiers.
-f config-file
Specify a weblint configuration file which should be used in
place of the user's default config file, or the site
configuration file.
-help Show a short usage summary.
-i Ignore case of element tags.
-l When recursing in directories, ignore any files which are
symlinks (also known as soft links). This will also cause files
on the command-line to be ignored if they are symlinks, unless
only one file is given.
-pedantic
Turn on all warnings except the case-sensitive and bad-link
warnings.
-s Generate `short' warning messages, which do not include the
filename.
-stderr
Print warning messages to STDERR rather than STDOUT.
-t Enable terse warning mode, which is mainly useful for the
weblint testsuite.
-U Same as -help.
-urlget command
The command which should be used to retrieve HTML pages
specified by URL.
-v Display the version number.
-version
Display the version number.
-todo This prints out the URL for the online version of the weblint
ToDo list. This includes known bugs, and requested/planned
features.
-warnings
List all supported warnings, with warning identifier, and
whether the warning is enabled.
-x extension
Include checks for the specified HTML extension; multiple
extensions can be specified, separated with a comma. Currently
the only extensions supported are Netscape and Microsoft. This
can also be set in your weblint configuration file, described
below.
HTML EXTENSIONS
Unless you specify otherwise, weblint assumes you are using HTML 3.2.
Weblint supports the Netscape and Microsoft HTML extensions in
addition. For example, weblint will complain that the BLINK element is
not known, unless you enable the Netscape extension. The following
extensions are currently supported:
Netscape
The HTML extensions supported by the Netscape browser, version
4.
Microsoft
The HTML extensions supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer,
version 4.
To enable an extension, you can either use the -x command-line switch:
% weblint -x Netscape foobar.html
Or you can use the extension keyword in your .weblintrc:
# enable the Microsoft extensions
extension Microsoft
CONFIGURATION FILE
Weblint can be configured using a file .weblintrc in your home
directory (or a file referenced by the WEBLINTRC environment variable).
This file can be used to enable or disable specific warnings, set
weblint variables, and include HTML extensions, as described above.
Each warning has a short identifier string, used to refer to the
warning in config files, and from the command-line. For example, if
you want to enable the check for tags in upper-case, but disable the
check for obsolete elements, then you would include the following lines
in your .weblintrc:
# specify the command used to retrieve URLs (-urlget switch)
set url-get = lynx -source
# the style of warning message to generate (lint, short, or terse)
set message-style = lint
# enable warning for tags not in upper-case
enable upper-case
# disable the warning for obsolete tags
disable obsolete
# enable the Netscape HTML extensions
extension Netscape
# when recursing in a directory,
# ignore files which are symlinks (also known as soft links)
ignore symlinks
The keywords can be followed by any number of arguments, separated by
spaces or tabs. Anything following a `#' is treated as a comment.
A sample configuration file is included in the weblint distribution (as
of version 1.004), which mirrors the configuration built-in to weblint.
Weblint also supports a site configuration file. If a user does not
have a personal configuration file, then weblint will check for a local
site configuration file. To provide such a file, create a directory
such as /usr/local/weblint, and create a file global.weblintrc. You
need to edit the weblint script and modify the $SITE_DIR variable,
which you will find near the top of the file. For example:
$SITE_DIR = '/usr/local/weblint';
At some point in the future there will be configuration support for
weblint, so you won't have to modify the script directly yourself.
If you have a site configuration file, then users can inherit the site
defaults by adding the following line at the top of their .weblintrc
file:
use global weblintrc
WARNINGS
All warnings generated by weblint are listed below, along with the
associated identifier, and whether the warning is enabled or disabled
by default.
tag <...> is not in upper case.
Identifier: upper-case
Default: disabled
tag <...> is not in lower case.
Identifier: lower-case
Default: disabled
ffoooo attribute is required for <...>
Identifier: required-attribute
Default: enabled
expected an attribute for <...>
Identifier: expected-attribute
Default: enabled
unknown element <...>
Identifier: unknown-element
Default: enabled
unknown attribute `...' for element <...>.
Identifier: unknown-attribute
Default: enabled
should not have whitespace between `<' and `...>'
Identifier: leading-whitespace
Default: enabled
bad form to use `here' as an anchor!
Identifier: here-anchor
Default: enabled
no <TITLE> in HEAD element.
Identifier: require-head
Default: enabled
tag <...> should only appear once. I saw one on line XX!
Identifier: once-only
Default: enabled
<BODY> but no <HEAD>.
Identifier: body-no-head
Default: enabled
outer tags should be <HTML> .. </HTML>.
Identifier: html-outer
Default: enabled
<...> can only appear in the HEAD element.
Identifier: head-element
Default: enabled
<...> cannot appear in the HEAD element.
Identifier: non-head-element
Default: enabled
<...> is obsolete.
Identifier: obsolete
Default: enabled
unmatched </...> (no matching <...> seen).
Identifier: mis-match
Default: enabled
IMG does not have ALT text defined.
Identifier: img-alt
Default: enabled
<...> cannot be nested.
Identifier: nested-element
Default: enabled
Did not see <LINK REV=MADE HREF=mailto:...> in HEAD.
Identifier: mailto-link
Default: disabled
</...> on line XX seems to overlap <...>, opened on line YY.
Identifier: element-overlap
Default: enabled
no closing </...> seen for <...> on line XX.
Identifier: unclosed-element
Default: enabled
markup embedded in a comment can confuse some browsers.
Identifier: markup-in-comment
Default: enabled
odd number of quotes in element <...>.
Identifier: odd-quotes
Default: enabled
heading <H?> follows <H?> on line N.
Identifier: heading-order
Default: enabled
target for anchor
Identifier: bad-link
Default: disabled
unexpected < in <...> -- potentially unclosed element.
Identifier: unexpected-open
Default: enabled
illegal context for <...> - must appear in <...> element.
Identifier: required-context
Default: enabled
unclosed comment (comment should be: <!-- ... -->
Identifier: unclosed-comment
Default: enabled
element <...> is not a container -- </...> not legal.
Identifier: illegal-closing
Default: enabled
<...> is physical font markup -- use logical (such as XXX)
Identifier: physical-font
Default: disabled
attribute XYZ is repeated in element <...>
Identifier: repeated-attribute
Default: enabled
empty container element <...>
Identifier: empty-container
Default: enabled
use of ' for attribute value delimiter is not supported by all browsers
(attribute XYZ of tag ABC)
Identifier: attribute-delimiter
Default: enabled
closing tag <...> should not have any attributes specified.
Identifier: closing-attribute
Default: enabled
directory DIR does not have an index file (index.html)
Identifier: directory-index
Default: enabled
<...> must immediately follow <...>
Identifier: must-follow
Default: enabled
setting WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes on IMG tag can improve rendering
performance on some browsers
Identifier: img-size
Default: disabled
leading/trailing whitespace in content of container element ...
Identifier: container-whitespace
Default: disabled
first element was not DOCTYPE specification
Identifier: require-doctype
Default: disabled
`>' should be represented as `>'
Identifier: literal-metacharacter
Default: enabled
malformed heading - open tag is <H?>, but closing is </H?>
Identifier: heading-mismatch
Default: enabled
illegal context, <...>, for text; should be in XXX.
Identifier: bad-text-context
Default: enabled
illegal value for AAA attribute of XXX (...)
Identifier: attribute-format
Default: enabled
<...> is extended markup (use '-x <extension>' to allow this).
Identifier: extension-markup
Default: enabled
attribute `...' for <...> is extended markup (use '-x <extension>' to
allow this).
Identifier: extension-attribute
Default: enabled
value for attribute XYZ (xyz-value) of element FOOBAR should be quoted
(i.e. XYZ='xyz-value')
Identifier: quote-attribute-value
Default: enabled
you should use '>' in place of '>', even in a PRE element.
Identifier: meta-in-pre
Default: enabled
<A> should be inside <H?>, not <H?> inside <A>.
Identifier: heading-in-anchor
Default: enabled
The HTML spec. recommends the TITLE be no longer than 64 characters.
Identifier: title-length
Default: enabled
TESTSUITE
A simple regression testsuite is included with weblint, in the Perl
script test.pl. You can run the testsuite with either of the following
commands:
% make test
% ./test.pl
The results are printed to STDERR, with a more complete report
generated in test.log.
All tests should pass. If any tests fail, please email test.log to the
address given in the AUTHOR section below.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
WEBLINTRC
If this variable is defined, and references a file, then weblint
will read the referenced file for the user's configuration,
rather than $HOME/.weblintrc.
TMPDIR The directory where weblint will create temporary working files.
Defaults to /usr/tmp.
FILES
$HOME/.weblintrc
The user's configuration file. See the section `CONFIGURATION
FILE'.
SEE ALSO
perl(1)
VERSION
This man page describes weblint 1.020.
AVAILABILITY
ftp://ftp.cre.canon.co.uk/pub/weblint/weblint.tar.gz
http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint/
KNOWN BUGS
The list of known bugs can be found on the weblint home page:
http://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint/todo/
Certain versions of Perl have bugs which are triggered by weblint. You
shouldn't experience problems if you have 4.036, or 5.002.
AUTHOR
Neil Bowers, Canon Research Centre Europe
neilb@cre.canon.co.uk
CONTRIBUTIONS
Lots of people have contributed to weblint, in the form of suggestions,
bug reports, fixes, and contributed code. Please email me if your name
should appear in the roll call below.
Abigail <abigail@mars.ic.iaf.nl>; Anthony Thyssen
<anthony@cit.gu.edu.au>; Axel Boldt <axel@uni-paderborn.de>; Barry
Bakalor <barry@hal.com>; Bill Arnett <billa@netcom.com>; Bob
Friesenhahn <bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us>; Mark Gates <mr-
gates@uiuc.edu>; Bruce Speyer <bspeyer@texas-one.org>; Chris Siebenmann
<cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu>; Clay Webster <clay@unipress.com>; Dana
Jacobsen <dana@acm.org>; David Begley <david@bacall.nepean.uws.edu.au>;
David J. MacKenzie <djm@va.pubnix.com>; Douglas Brick
<dbrick@u.washington.edu>; Gil Citro; Eric de Mund <ead@ixian.com>;
Richard Finegold <goldfndr@eskimo.com>; Joerg Heitkoetter
<Joerg.Heitkoetter@germany.eu.net>; David Koblas
<koblas@homepages.com>; John Labovitz <johnl@ora.com>; Eric Maryniak
<E.Maryniak@rgd.nl>; John F. Whitehead <jfw@wral-tv.com> Juergen
Schoenwaelder <schoenw@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>; Frank Steinke
<fsteinke@zeta.org.au>; Larry Virden <lvirden@cas.org>; Paul Black
<black@lal.cs.byu.edu>; Doug Grinbergs <dougg@qualcomm.com>; Philip
Hallstrom <philip@wolfe.net>; Craig Leres <leres@ee.lbl.gov>; Richard
Lloyd <R.K.Lloyd@csc.liv.ac.uk>; Charles F. Randall
<crandall@dmacc.cc.ia.us>; Robert Schmunk
<pcrxs@nasagiss.giss.nasa.gov>; Jeff Schave <schave@engr.wisc.edu>; Jon
Thackray <jrmt@uk.gdscorp.com>; Jens Thordarson <thordurh@rhi.hi.is>;
Ryan Waldron <rew@nuance.com>; Thomas Leavitt <leavitt@webcom.com>; Tom
Neff <tneff@panix.com>; Victor Parada <vparada@inf.utfsm.cl>; Erick
Branderhorst <branderhorst@fgg.eur.nl>; Bryan O'Sullivan
<bos@serpentine.com>; Alan J. Flavell <FLAVELL@v2.ph.gla.ac.uk>;
Raphael Manfredi <Raphael_Manfredi@grenoble.hp.com>; Keith Iosso <a-
keithi@microsoft.com>; Chris Lambert <lambertc@sharelink.com>; Tristan
Savatier <tristan@creative.net>; Phil Hooper <hooper@bcci.eng.sun.com>;
Gerald Viers <grviers@csupomona.edu>; Dean Brissinger
<brissing@bvsd.k12.co.us>; Dave Schmitt <dschmi1@gl.umbc.edu>; John Van
Essen <vanes002@maroon.tc.umn.edu>; Brandon Bell
<brandon@arcs.bcit.bc.ca>; Fumio Moriya and Toshiaki Nomura
<dsfrsoft@oai6.yk.fujitsu.co.jp>; Vincent Lefevre <vlefevre@ens-
lyon.fr>; Jason Mathews <mathews@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov>; Lars Balker
Rasmussen <lbr@mjolner.dk>; Richard L. Hawes <rhawes@dmapub.dma.org>.
Handmade August 97 weblint 1.020(1L)