Around 2000, browser incompatibility was severe enough that “valid XHTML” and “valid CSS” badges signalled both politics and competence. A standards-compliant site made a claim about what the web ought to be and advertised time spent dealing with Internet Explorer.
HTML5 later absorbed the useful parts of that movement. Browsers converged, standards compliance became ordinary infrastructure, and XHTML largely disappeared as the expected future of the web.
The Nu HTML Checker and CSS validator remain active. Modern sites tend to put syntax, accessibility, and link checks in continuous integration. The footer badges have mostly gone.
Those links remain in Film Initiative (2001–2003).
RSS and RDF belonged to the same public infrastructure. Feed links often sat beside validation badges. The Film Initiative feed files contain titles, dates, authors, descriptions, and post identifiers for pages that are otherwise unavailable.
The later Insecular (2012–2013) and Research Musings (2014) sites were hosted by WordPress. Their footers named the theme and publishing system; markup validation no longer appeared.
Liminal Notes is built from Markdown and ordinary links. The build checks HTML structure, accessibility basics, and internal links. Its feed and sitemap remain exposed.
Film Initiative (2001–2003) → Insecular (2012–2013) → Research Musings (2014) · Museum