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While doing a project I was checking it for W3C errors (using html validator plug-in for Firefox), and in the process I found a warning that never showed up to me ever before.

"Warning: This interface to HTML5 document checking is deprecated"

  • So, first thing came up to my mind, "let me Google this" and see what information I could find about this warning, but I didn't get anything.
  • Tried another approach, which was going to the actual W3C Validator and see the outcome.But, I was given the same warning (shown below), but this time it was pointing me to a different link to check again, which I did, but I couldn't understand why I had to check in W3C validator NU and not in W3C validator original as usual.

This interface to HTML5 document checking is deprecated. Use the Nu Html Checker at https://validator.w3.org/nu/ directly instead.

So what is the meaning of this warning and why it shows up?

P.S. - I just noticed this is happening across my current projects and AFAIR since a few days ago.

EDIT - It stopped giving me the warning above, now it shows the following errors:

Error: Online parser error

And

Error: Go to menu: HTML Validator/W3c Online validator to see the error

Going to W3C Validator I can now see it is updated for W3C validator NU

EDIT2 - Since a while ago I've stopped seeing any error in the plugin. It looks the developers updated the plugin. So far so good.

dippas
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2 Answers2

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All it means is that the old validator on the W3C's site is no longer able to accurately check the current spec of HTML5 that browsers use. Certain elements (like hgroup) that were in the process of being adopted were ultimately dropped, while others were altered or added.

So all it means is that that validator is outdated and thus not the best place to check your HTML5 documents.

Emma Ramirez
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  • That's what I though at first but I found weird since this is the W3C validator, allegedly where every validator should guide from. Therefore my question here on SO, And AFAIK and remember, this warning is very new, because even last week it wasn't showing up on my projects when now it shows. Thanks for clarifying this for me. – dippas Jun 08 '15 at 18:34
  • @dippas — It's the old W3C validator. It tells you where the new one is. – Quentin Jun 08 '15 at 18:43
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    @Quentin Yes I'm fully aware of that now, but because the new one has this: *"This is an experimental checker and its behavior remains subject to change"* I found it a bit weird that W3C was having the an old validator when the new is still on "beta" (per say) – dippas Jun 08 '15 at 18:47
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    Being experimental is not new in the new validator. The old one says: Using experimental feature: HTML5 Conformance Checker. The validator checked your document with an experimental feature: HTML5 Conformance Checker. This feature has been made available for your convenience, but be aware that it may be unreliable, or not perfectly up to date with the latest development of some cutting-edge technologies. – Quentin Jun 08 '15 at 18:49
  • Yes I read that as well, thank you for your input. I'm much more clarified now @Quentin. Thank you – dippas Jun 08 '15 at 18:54
  • The `grunt-html-validation` plugin also throws this error now: https://github.com/praveenvijayan/grunt-html-validation – mikkelz Jun 12 '15 at 07:09
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    I've been perplexed by this behavior as well, because the Nu HTML Checker lacks basic features of validator.w3.org. When I check an HTML document with the Nu HTML Checker, I don't even get a confirmation of whether the document consists of valid markup. I'm an instructor and can't see sending students to validate their HTML code with the Nu HTML Checker. – Sasha Vodnik Jun 25 '15 at 20:54
  • Just discovered that there are at least two different implementations of the Nu validator. The validator.w3.org results page sends me to validator.w3.org/nu/, which does not tell me if my HTML5 document is valid. However, a different implementation, html5.validator.nu, does so. The interface is quite spartan, but it seems to meet my needs. – Sasha Vodnik Jun 25 '15 at 21:01
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Maintainer of the W3C HTML Checker here. I'm the one who added that “Warning: This interface to HTML5 document checking is deprecated” message a few weeks back.

You actually won’t see that message now, because in the mean time I’ve set up a mechanism that causes requests to be automatically redirected from the old legacy W3C Markup Validator at https://validator.w3.org/ to the current W3C HTML Checker at https://validator.w3.org/nu/

If you're curious, here's the change diff:

https://github.com/w3c/markup-validator/commit/1b12fe496bb457950944782f133f547cee3cef56

All that said, if you’re using the obsolete SOAP 1.2 API to the legacy Markup Validator (or using some tool that relies on it), you may now see a message saying:

This interface to HTML5 document checking is obsolete. Use an interface to https://validator.w3.org/nu/ instead.

If you’re seeing that message in output from some tool/library you use, then you need to report it as a bug to the developers of that tool/libary so they can update it to instead use the current API to the https://validator.w3.org/nu/ checker.

sideshowbarker
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  • Thank you very much for your detailed explanation, I actually edited my question few days ago (jul 20) saying that I wasn't seeing that warning anymore, and added the error the was shown to me. I'm using a Firefox add-on [*HMTL validator*](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/html-validator/) which was doing a great job till this changes – dippas Jul 28 '15 at 13:00