he Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is the markup language which is widely considered as the latest version of HTML. It has the same extent of expression as HTML but a far stricter syntax. While HTML was considered as a simple and flexible application, XHTML is considered pretty restricted. XHTML uses the automated processing generally with the standard XML library. The World Wide Web is not merely restricted to traditional computers; it needs to be accessed from devices like mobiles, PDA's etc. Therefore it became necessary to come out with something that can provide more resources reducing the complexities of HTML.

Talking of a XHTML Validator, it’s a computer application that is used to check the validity or the syntax of the XHTML code or document or the whole site. As mentioned earlier XHTML has a strict coding standard compliant with the “world wide web consortium�. Now let us shed some light on how the XHTML Validator works. Once you've finished coding your XHTML site or a page or any document, you can upload it to an XHTML Validator. This Validator is aware of the W3C standards of syntax and thus it runs through the site and checks the code. It validates the whole body and gives the list of errors in the code along with the suggestions to improve it. This validation is as important and as recommended as checking the spellings on your website. It is a vital part for your documents. IF your code is validated which means it is correct and will therefore work on every web browser intended. A lot of new browsers are being developed everyday and it requires your documents to be validates. In case your pages are not validated, it is obvious that they are not compliant with the standard code. Hence your site will not be seen on all those browsers that are developed with the standard code intelligence. It confuses the users and in turn results into losing out on customers. On the other hand if your code is validated, it is likely to display your site correctly on many other browsers. Validated code also means that the code is according to the standard W3C formats. It is compliant with all the browsers that work with the “standard� form. Even if the code is minutely incorrect, different browsers will display it in a different way. This takes a lot of time to load because of the errors and the page may end up being displayed in a distorted form. Without a standardized validation format it becomes very difficult to code a separate page for each browser. It would be a very tedious and resource consuming job. With the introduction of web standards, your content can be viewed correctly on all the browsers. XHTML pages are mostly backward compatible with HTML. That is, processed as HTML by a web browser not meant to properly handle XHTML. Programmers who fail to follow the guidelines for compatibility often make blunders with the code and hence it is not displayed properly in some of the modern web browsers.

We all know how important search engine rankings are. More and more users are developing engine friendly sites to attract customers. For the search engines to understand the website better, it’s important for its pages to be validated. This will result in higher search engine ranking giving you free hits and more bucks. But if your page isn't validated the search engines will often miss out in the important keywords and your site will have to suffer due to poor navigation. Many a times even some parts of the code are displayed in the search results and visitors never get to know what your site is all about.

With the increase in electronic communication, a lot of people are accessing the web through devices like mobile phones and PDA’s. And generally it’s a lot of problem to view the web page if the code isn’t validated. These devices have a limited processing resource and therefore it would take hell lot of time to straighten out the invalidated code. A XHTML Validator helps you overcome the errors in your code so that the users can view proper pages on all the electronic devices apart from the computers. Technology is meant for everyone and that includes people with disabilities too. A validated code can help the screen readers very easily in all the browsers with standardization. At times it is also advisable to have an external style sheet so that these programs can run without any hassles.

Moreover in an online business, you cater to a specific kind of users who would want to visit your site. Just as our professionalism in an organization, we have to demonstrate ourselves online in the similar way and therefore we must use validated code, so that the page doesn’t contain any broken fragments in any kind of browser. No one wants to lose out on business because of this. At any given time if there is any kind of mistake in your code, the Validator highlights it and in turn gives you an easy way to track it down and fix it. This is applicable to all the versions of XHTML. Before the Validator came into existence people had to manually check the code and the error locations and make sure that nothing has gone wrong. The Validator also helps you use programs where you can try and figure out parts in the code that have been changed and validated.

By now we can explicitly say how important it is to use a Validator in the present scenario. To sum up, XHTML Validator analyzes an XHTML document in comparison to standard XHTML rules, spotting errors and non-standard codes. Validating your web page helps to identify areas of potential blockage that could prevent search engine visitors from accessing your website. Most XHTML Validators can be found, but there are some that can be downloaded and used on your computer. The W3C Validator is amongst the popular ones on the internet.