HTML Validation Runner

Earlier this year, the w3c validator switched to a new engine and although this returns results for html5, the service was no longer returning simple statistics in the http header. In short it broke Scrutiny's html validation feature. (Those using a local instance of the validator may have found that it kept working)

My options were to screen-scrape from the new w3c validator, find an alternative service (either web or something that could be included within Scrutiny) or to write my own.

In the absence of a 'quick fix', I replaced the full website validation feature with a 'single page validation' (context menu item in SEO table).

Feedback has been generally good, some users agreeing with my own feeling that because websites tend to be based on template(s), validating all pages isn't necessary. For this reason, it's unlikely that the new tool mentioned below will be part of Scrutiny, but I may include it in the dmg as a separate free app.

I have now found an alternative, that works well and doesn't rely on a web service or need anything extra installed. It does give slightly different results to the w3c validator, but I guess any two tools will give different results.

My first prototype is now working, if you are interested in being able to scan your site, validating the html for all pages, and would like to give this tool a whirl, please just ask.

All thoughts and comments are very welcome, email me or use the comments.

Philips Hue bulbs, see your Hue-topia schedules as a gantt chart

The gantt chart mentioned in the previous post (as a new feature in LIFXstyle) is now built into Hue-topia

Hue-topia gives you a number of ways to schedule your lamps; groups, presets, dawn/dusk, and with a number of schedules set up, it may be difficult to see what's going on. The chart shows you any day or a week (bearing in mind that schedules can be set to happen on particular days).

It will be ready for beta testing soon. If you're interested in running it, please let me know.

LIFX - see your schedules as a gantt chart

LIFXstyle gives you some very powerful tools for scheduling your lamps. Schedule individual lamps, groups to switch on, off or change colour. Set up presets and trigger those on schedule.

With a number of schedules set up (possibly overlapping) it's difficult to see exactly what's going to happen. Or if a lamp doesn't behave as expected, the reason may not be obvious.

Viewing your schedules as a gantt chart should help. View a day (24hrs) or a whole week. Click a block (either to the left or the right) to see the particular schedule which is responsible at that point.

This chart is now in alpha testing. If you'd like a copy for beta testing ahead of the main release, please get in touch.

'Build your own bundle' at bundlehunt - includes Scrutiny

Website scrutinizer Scrutiny is one of 30 quality apps currently on offer at bundlehunt.com

Build your own bundle of 10 for $19.99

NB: Scrutiny v6 is currently in beta. Don't let this put you off - If you buy Scrutiny 5 now, Scrutiny v6 will be a free upgrade.

Tracing http redirects

A new feature in the v6 beta of Scrutiny (from v6.0.2) is the ability to trace all the redirects of the http request / response.

If a url is redirected, it is usually redirected once but it can be two or more times. In these cases, a button will be available beside the 'redirect url' field of the link inspector. The button will display the number of redirects.

Pressing the button triggers a new request to be sent and a trace will be shown showing all of the redirects as they happen and the status codes.

Download the latest Scrutiny beta. (not recommended for existing production users - please wait until v6 moves to stable.)

Which web pages does Scrutiny include in its SEO table and Sitemap table?

When asked that question recently I had to look through code to find definitive answers (not ideal!) and realised that the manual should contain that information.

It does now, and here's the list for anyone who's interested:

The SEO table will include pages that are:

• html*
• internal (urls with a subdomain may or may not be treated as internal depending on whether the preference is checked in Preferences > General)
• status must be good (ie urls with status 0, 4xx or 5xx will not be included)
• not excluded by your blacklist / whitelist rules on the Settings screen
• your robots.txt file will be observed (ie a page will be excluded if it is disallowed by robots.txt) if that preference is checked on the Settings screen (below Blacklist and Whitelist rules)

The sitemap table will include a subset of those pages - so in addition to the above, the following rules apply:

• will include pdfs (if that preference is checked in Preferences > Sitemap)
• not excluded by your robots.txt file (if that box is checked in Preferences > Sitemap)
• not excluded by a 'robots noindex' meta tag (if that box is checked in Preferences > Sitemap)
• does not have a canonical meta tag that points to a different url

As always, I'm always very happy to look into any particular example that you can't make sense of. 

* this doesn't mean a .html file extension, but the mime type of the page as it is served up. Most web pages will be html. Images are shown in the SEO results but in a separate table which shows the url, page it appears on, and the alt text.

** Although Integrity Plus doesn't display SEO results (at present) it does display the same sitemap table as Scrutiny and all of the rules above apply.