Top 10 Websites with the Worst HTML
Just because a website ranks among the best in the world does not mean it is designed well. Most of the top websites are poorly designed, filled with HTML errors, and fail the W3C HTML validation. Find out which sites are the worst offenders and which are most W3C friendly ones.
What is HTML validation? It is a check to make sure a webpage has correct HTML code, according to the standard set by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Browsers may still display broken non-validating code, but it is considered unreliable; it may not work as expected on non-standard browsers, such as on phones and PDAs, and may potentially cause problems with search engine robots. Valid HTML is more accessible. You can test your own website with the W3C validator here: http://validator.w3.org/
Older websites with cluttered content, such as IGN, CNET, Download.com, and Amazon are the worst offenders and chalk full of HTML errors. Conversely, websites like MSN, Craigslist, Badoo, Wordpress, Mozilla, and Mininova are W3C-friendly and serve as good examples for the web design community. Not only are these HTML valid, they appear to a step closer to the Web 2.0 ideal than the 'worst offenders'.
Top 10 Invalids - The Worst W3C Offending Websites*
| WEBSITE | ERRORS |
| http://www.ign.com/ | 2870 |
| http://www.cnet.com/ | 2121 |
| http://www.download.com/ | 1672 |
| http://www.amazon.com/ | 1257 |
| http://www.veoh.com/ | 1020 |
| http://www.alibaba.com/ | 820 |
| http://www.aol.com/ | 577 |
| http://www.gamefaqs.com/ | 478 |
| http://www.hi5.com/ | 292 |
| http://www.ebay.co.uk/ | 242 |
Top 10 Best Valid Websites - W3C Friendly*
| WEBSITE | ERRORS |
| http://www.msn.com/ | 0 |
| http://www.craigslist.org/ | 0 |
| http://www.wordpress.com/ | 0 |
| http://www.badoo.com/ | 0 |
| http://www.mininova.org/ | 0 |
| http://www.metroflog.com/ | 0 |
| http://www.mozilla.com/ | 0 |
| http://www.pornotube.com/ | 0 |
| http://www.4shared.com/ | 1 |
| http://www.miniclip.com/ | 3 |
Top 100 Websites and Errors*
| RANK | WEBSITE | ERRORS |
| 1 | http://www.yahoo.com/ | 34 |
| 2 | http://www.google.com/ | 30 |
| 3 | http://www.msn.com/ | 0 |
| 4 | http://www.youtube.com/ | 184 |
| 5 | http://www.live.com/ | 64 |
| 6 | http://www.myspace.com/ | 116 |
| 7 | http://www.facebook.com/ | 37 |
| 8 | http://www.orkut.com | 30 |
| 9 | http://www.hi5.com/ | 292 |
| 10 | http://www.rapidshare.com/ | 122 |
| 11 | http://www.blogger.com/ | 10 |
| 12 | http://www.megaupload.com/ | 88 |
| 13 | http://www.friendster.com/ | 93 |
| 14 | http://www.microsoft.com/ | 31 |
| 15 | http://www.fotolog.com/ | 96 |
| 16 | http://www.ebay.com/ | 158 |
| 17 | http://www.google.co.uk/ | 50 |
| 18 | http://www.flickr.com/ | 28 |
| 19 | http://www.imdb.com/ | 122 |
| 20 | http://www.amazon.com/ | 1257 |
| 21 | http://www.photobucket.com/ | 120 |
| 22 | http://www.imageshack.us/ | failed |
| 23 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/ | 36 |
| 24 | http://www.go.com/ | 146 |
| 25 | http://www.imagevenue.com/ | 32 |
| 26 | http://www.craigslist.org/ | 0 |
| 27 | http://www.dailymotion.com/ | failed |
| 28 | http://www.megarotic.com/ | 6 |
| 29 | http://www.youporn.com/ | 4 |
| 30 | http://www.passport.net/ | 67 |
| 31 | http://www.aol.com/ | 577 |
| 32 | http://www.deviantart.com/ | 80 |
| 33 | http://www.google.co.in/ | 47 |
| 34 | http://www.wordpress.com/ | 0 |
| 35 | http://www.adultfriendfinder.com/ | 209 |
| 36 | http://www.google.ca/ | 48 |
| 37 | http://www.netlog.com/ | 4 |
| 38 | http://www.google.com.vn/ | 43 |
| 39 | http://geocities.yahoo.com/ | 33 |
| 40 | http://badoo.com/ | 0 |
| 41 | http://www.veoh.com/ | 1020 |
| 42 | http://www.google.co.th/ | 43 |
| 43 | http://www.mininova.org/ | 0 |
| 44 | http://www.vnexpress.net/ | 70 |
| 45 | http://www.ebay.co.uk/ | 242 |
| 46 | http://www.adobe.com/ | 20 |
| 47 | http://www.sendspace.com/ | 4 |
| 48 | http://www.apple.com/ | 4 |
| 49 | http://www.xanga.com/ | 30 |
| 50 | http://www.badongo.com/ | 45 |
| 51 | http://www.metroflog.com/ | 0 |
| 52 | http://www.cnn.com/ | 142 |
| 53 | http://www.bebo.com/ | 117 |
| 54 | http://multiply.com/ | 11 |
| 55 | http://www.megavideo.com/ | 194 |
| 56 | http://www.digg.com/ | 61 |
| 57 | http://www.4shared.com/ | 1 |
| 58 | http://www.mediafire.com/ | 141 |
| 59 | http://www.download.com/ | 1672 |
| 60 | http://www.perfspot.com/ | 85 |
| 61 | http://www.icq.com/ | 136 |
| 62 | http://www.gamespot.com/ | 11 |
| 63 | http://www.depositfiles.com/ | 47 |
| 64 | http://www.about.com/ | 81 |
| 65 | http://www.theplanet.com/ | 224 |
| 66 | http://www.rediff.com/ | failed |
| 67 | http://www.google.com.ph/ | 32 |
| 68 | http://www.google.com.au/ | 48 |
| 69 | http://www.invisionfree.com/ | 4 |
| 70 | http://www.google.ro/ | 43 |
| 71 | http://www.yourfilehost.com/ | 36 |
| 72 | http://www.google.com.co/ | 44 |
| 73 | http://www.mozilla.com/ | 0 |
| 74 | http://sourceforge.net/ | 5 |
| 75 | http://www.metacafe.com/ | 59 |
| 76 | http://www.zshare.net/ | 24 |
| 77 | http://www.soso.com/ | 26 |
| 78 | http://www.divx.com/ | 109 |
| 79 | http://www.usercash.com/ | 11 |
| 80 | http://www.miniclip.com/ | 3 |
| 81 | http://www.ign.com/ | 2870 |
| 82 | http://www.linkedin.com/ | 10 |
| 83 | http://www.comcast.net/ | 50 |
| 84 | http://www.imeem.com/ | 52 |
| 85 | http://www.alibaba.com/ | 820 |
| 86 | http://www.information.com/ | 35 |
| 87 | http://www.gamefaqs.com/ | 478 |
| 88 | http://www.tagged.com/ | 32 |
| 89 | http://www.starware.com/ | 6 |
| 90 | http://www.doubleclick.com/ | 7 |
| 91 | http://www.24h.com.vn/ | failed |
| 92 | http://www.pornotube.com/ | 0 |
| 93 | http://www.google.com.my/ | 41 |
| 94 | http://www.google.com.sg/ | 41 |
| 95 | http://www.cnet.com/ | 2121 |
| 96 | http://www.ku6.com/ | failed |
| 97 | http://www.iwiw.hu/ | failed |
| 98 | http://www.statcounter.com/ | 48 |
| 99 | http://www.hp.com/ | 105 |
| 100 | http://www.bangbros1.com/ | 20 |
*Websites listed are from the top 100 popular websites. Source: Alexa. The home page of each site was used for each validation test. Tested in October 2007.
© 2007 Trent Mueller
Webmasters have permission to redistribute this article if source URL is credited.
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