Title: XHTML Validator Question
Last modified: August 18, 2016

---

# XHTML Validator Question

 *  [subtype](https://wordpress.org/support/users/subtype/)
 * (@subtype)
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/xhtml-validator-question/)
 * The error:
 * ———-
    Line 145 column 7: document type does not allow element “h2” here; assuming
   missing “li” start-tag.
 * <h2>Search:</h2>
    ———-
 * I assume it is asking me to put DIV tags around the H2 tags, correct? The problem
   is I do have a separate DIV assigned for the search form and the H2 – Search –/
   H2 is between those tags…
 * Sidebar code:
 *     ```
       <div class="sidenav">
   
       <!-- sidebar -->
   
       <ul>
           <?php if ( function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') && dynamic_sidebar() ) : else : ?>
   
           <?php global $notfound; ?>
           <?php /* Creates a menu for pages beneath the level of the current page */
           if (is_page() and ($notfound != '1')) {
           $current_page = $post->ID;
           while($current_page) {
           $page_query = $wpdb->get_row("SELECT ID, post_title, post_status, post_parent FROM $wpdb->posts
           WHERE  ID = '$current_page'");
           $current_page = $page_query->post_parent;
           }
           $parent_id = $page_query->ID;
           $parent_title = $page_query->post_title;
   
           if ($wpdb->get_results("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_parent = '$parent_id' AND post_status
           !=  'attachment'")) { ?>
       </u>
   
       <div class="sb-pagemenu">
           <h2><?php echo $parent_title; ?> <?php _e('Subpages:'); ?></h2>
           <ul><?php wp_list_pages('sort_column=menu_order&title_li=&child_of='. $parent_id); ?></ul>
   
           <?php if ($parent_id != $post->ID) { ?>
           <a href="<?php echo get_permalink($parent_id); ?>"><?php printf(__('Back to %s'), $parent_title ) ?></a>
           <?php } ?>
       </div>
           <?php } } ?>
   
           <?php if (is_attachment()) { ?>
       <div class="sb-pagemenu">
           <a href="<?php echo get_permalink($post->post_parent); ?>" rev="attachment"><?php printf(__('Back
           to \'%s\''), get_the_title($post->post_parent) ) ?></a>
       </div>
           <br/><br/>
           <?php } ?>
   
           <h2><?php _e('Search:'); ?></h2>
           <form id="searchform" method="get" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
           &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<input type="text" name="s" id="s" size="10" />
           &nbsp;<input type="submit" value="<?php _e('Go!'); ?>" />
           </form>
   
           <h2>Product Categories</h2>
       <ul class="sidemenu">
           <?php wp_list_cats(); ?>
       </ul>
   
           <h2><?php _e('Meta:'); ?> </h2>
   
       <ul class="sidemenu">
           <?php wp_register(); ?>
           <li><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer" title="<?php _e('This page validates as XHTML
           1.0 Transitional'); ?>"><?php _e('Valid <abbr title="eXtensible HyperText Markup
           Language">XHTML</abbr>'); ?></a>
           </li>
       </ul>
       <?php endif; ?>
   
       <!-- end sidebar -->
       </div>
       <div class="clearer"><span></span></div>
       </div>
       ```
   
 * CSS Code:
 *     ```
       /* sub navigation */
       .sidenav {
       	float: right;
       	width: 210px;
               background-color: #E8E5DD;
       }
       .sidenav h2 {
       	color: #333300;
       	font-size: 1em;
       	line-height: 30px;
       	margin: 0;
       	padding-left: 12px;
       }
       .sidenav ul {
       	padding: 0;
       }
       .sidenav li {border-bottom: 1px solid #D2D3BD;}
       .sidenav li a {
       	font-size: 1.1em;
       	color: #333300;
       	display: block;
       	padding: 6px 0 6px 5%;
       	text-decoration: none;
       	width: 95%;
               background-color: #E8E5DD;
       }
       .sidenav li a:hover {
       	background-color: #E8E5DD;
       	color: #654;
       }
       ```
   
 * Where’s my error?

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [Marcel Brinkkemper](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macbrink/)
 * (@macbrink)
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/xhtml-validator-question/#post-578755)
 * It looks like you’ve missed a , but that could be a copy/paste error. Anyhow,
   you’d better look at the code that is actually displayed on your browser. That
   is what is validated.
 *  Moderator [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * (@otto42)
 * WordPress.org Admin
 * [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/xhtml-validator-question/#post-578764)
 * We really need a link to your page (or better yet, a link to the validator results
   for your page).
 * Just posting the theme code doesn’t much help us, in this case.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘XHTML Validator Question’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Samuel Wood (Otto)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/otto42/)
 * Last activity: [18 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/xhtml-validator-question/#post-578764)
 * Status: not resolved

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