Puzzled by CSS Validator error on color mnemonic

[Jonathan N. Little]

When doing a final check on my stylesheets the CSS Validator flag lines
like this one as an error:
ADDRESS A { color: gold; }

Error is:
# Line: 31 Context : ADDRESS A

Invalid number : colorgold is not a color value : gold

Strangely if I change the style sheet to:
ADDRESS A { color: #FFD700; }

There is not error but gold==#FFD700, it is a valid color mnemonic, also
all the 'color: gold' entries where flagged but not when in a border
definition like:
..boxed { border: thin solid gold; }

nor with other colors like:
H1 { color: white; }?

I guess I can use #FFD700, but gold would be easier to recognize...

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

[Michael Winter]

Jonathan N. Little wrote:

[snip]

There is not error but gold==#FFD700, it is a valid color mnemonic,
No it isn't. The color keywords are specified in section 4.3.6 -
Colors of the specification
(<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/syndata.html#co lor-units>).
all the 'color: gold' entries where flagged but not when in a
border definition like:
..boxed { border: thin solid gold; }
It's feasible that a previous error masked that one. I trust that one
of the two leading periods was a typo.
nor with other colors like: H1 { color: white; }?
That's because white is a valid keyword.
I guess I can use #FFD700, but gold would be easier to recognize...

You'll just have to manage.

Mike

--
Michael Winter
Replace ".invalid" with ".uk" to reply by e-mail.

[Uncle Pirate]

Jonathan N. Little wrote:

When doing a final check on my stylesheets the CSS Validator flag lines
like this one as an error:
ADDRESS A { color: gold; }

Error is:
# Line: 31 Context : ADDRESS A

Invalid number : colorgold is not a color value : gold
Correct. Check again; gold is not a valid color value.

Strangely if I change the style sheet to:
ADDRESS A { color: #FFD700; }
Not strangely, #ffd700 is a valid color.

There is not error but gold==#FFD700, it is a valid color mnemonic, also
all the 'color: gold' entries where flagged but not when in a border
definition like:
.boxed { border: thin solid gold; }
If that did not generate an error, you got unlucky in it not being
pointed out. Gold is NOT a valid color value.

nor with other colors like:
H1 { color: white; }?
Of course it worked. White is one of the 16 valid color name/values.

I guess I can use #FFD700, but gold would be easier to recognize...

Perhaps a comment in your CSS file? You're stuck with #ffd700 since
gold is not valid.

--
Stan McCann "Uncle Pirate" http://stanmccann.us/pirate.html
Webmaster/Computer Center Manager, NMSU at Alamogordo
Coordinator, Tularosa Basin Chapter, ABATE of NM; AMA#758681; COBB
'94 1500 Vulcan (now wrecked) :( http://motorcyclefun.org/Dcp_2068c.jpg
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[Jonathan N. Little]

Michael Winter wrote:

Jonathan N. Little wrote:

[snip]

There is not error but gold==#FFD700, it is a valid color mnemonic,

No it isn't. The color keywords are specified in section 4.3.6 -
Colors of the specification
(<URL:http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/syndata.html#co lor-units>)

Dang, you are correct! All the years, either it's senility setting in or
I am confusing it back with old Netscape browser spec ;-)
..

all the 'color: gold' entries where flagged but not when in a
border definition like:

> ..boxed { border: thin solid gold; }

Not in my code! Mine only has one '.'
It's feasible that a previous error masked that one. I trust that one
of the two leading periods was a typo.

nor with other colors like: H1 { color: white; }?

That's because white is a valid keyword.

I guess I can use #FFD700, but gold would be easier to recognize...

You'll just have to manage.

Mike

Thanks, Yes I'll manage, I'll just have to review the spec and commit
the color names to memory!

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

[Jonathan N. Little]

Uncle Pirate wrote:

Jonathan N. Little wrote:

When doing a final check on my stylesheets the CSS Validator flag
lines like this one as an error:
ADDRESS A { color: gold; }

Error is:
# Line: 31 Context : ADDRESS A

Invalid number : colorgold is not a color value : gold

Correct. Check again; gold is not a valid color value.

Yep, thanks as in my other message I think I am confusing CSS color
names with old Netscape pre-CSS color names. Sometimes it is hard to
'unlearn' thins. I usually have no problem understanding hex color
values, maybe I'll just stick with them!

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

[Christoph Paeper]

*Jonathan N. Little* <lw*****@centra lva.net>:

# Line: 31 Context : ADDRESS A

Invalid number : colorgold is not a color value : gold
(It's unbelievable that they still haven't put a space in there at the
obvious position. Nor deleted the ones before the colons.)
ADDRESS A { color: #FFD700; }
.... or "rgb(255, 215, 0)" or "rgb(100%, 84%, 0%)".
There is not error but gold==#FFD700, it is a valid color mnemonic,
Says who? Where do people learn this rubbish?
I can understand when someone is experimenting with color names and finds
'gold' to look somehow golden in some browsers, but I do not understand
expecting such a specific value.
all the 'color: gold' entries where flagged but not when in a border
definition like:
.boxed { border: thin solid gold; }
May be a bug in the CSS checker, but could be for another reason, too.
I guess I can use #FFD700, but gold would be easier to recognize...

The sad thing is, the stupid list of X11 color names was incorporated into
SVG and will thus almost for sure be included into CSS*3: Color. It holds
true: what comes from SVG or XSL into CSS is seldomly well designed.

--
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "To summarize: It is a well-known fact
that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least
suited to do it. To summarize the summary: Anyone capable of getting themselves
made President should by no means be allowed to do the job. To summarize the
summary of the summary: People are a problem."

[Rijk van Geijtenbeek]

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 21:13:44 +0100, Christoph Paeper
<ch************ **@nurfuerspam. de> wrote:

...

The sad thing is, the stupid list of X11 color names was incorporated
into SVG and will thus almost for sure be included into CSS*3: Color. It
holds true: what comes from SVG or XSL into CSS is seldomly well
designed.

What's the problem, apart from most of the names being silly? Browsers
already support all the X11 color names, in CSS as well as in HTML
attributes.

--
Rijk van Geijtenbeek

The Web is a procrastination apparatus:
It can absorb as much time as is required to ensure that you
won't get any real work done. - J.Nielsen

[Christoph Paeper]

*Rijk van Geijtenbeek* <ri**@operaremo vethiz.com>:

On Wed, 02 Feb 2005 21:13:44 +0100, Christoph Paeper

The sad thing is, the stupid list of X11 color names was incorporated
into SVG and will thus almost for sure be included into CSS*3: Color.
It holds true: what comes from SVG or XSL into CSS is seldomly well
designed.
What's the problem, apart from most of the names being silly?

That's the basic problem. They are partly strangely named and neither
systematic nor logic: 'darkgray', for example, is lighter than 'gray', but
at least darker than 'lightgrey'---SVG/CSS adds the missing gray/grey
variants, but we probably will never get 'colour' OTOH. What's worse:
their existence effectively hinders the introduction of a better system,
which deserves to be called one. I liked
<http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2002May/0201.html>; WD2 of
the color module was published 19 Feb 2002, i.e. over three months
earlier, and already had the X11 (later: SVG) color keywords, but could
have been changed for the better still---now it's been a CR for over one
and a half year.
Browsers already support all the X11 color names, in CSS as well as in
HTML attributes.

Opera, for instance, does not in all circumstances.

--
Reality is an illusion that occurs due to the lack of alcohol.