i wasn't sugesting anyone was wrong.. i'll have to revive the cyclopse smiley to show a posative tone i guess. i'm getting too many negative replies. +)

i'm all for validation, but i look @ it from the mostly logical point of view that 'if it's wrong, it's wrong' so validate it! people generally try to spell correctly when they write, so writing proper code follows the same logic. i simply think people take the fact that some validates way too seriously. . . these people are also very new to the css/xhtml optimization area, so i can't totally blame them.

on the other hand, i think it's lame from a business perspective to have links saying "valid xhtml!" - personal sites i look the other way because it can reflect the person - but from a business perspective, only other people in the field will have any idea what it means or any interest.

EDIT:
my friend's website here illustrates what i mean. - he's not a designer but a programmer, so his clients are people who cant excellent coding, so they'll have some knowledge of that that means, but i see the same link set ups on websites that really aren't very optimized, but simply follow proper syntax.

having spent the time to really understand how i can optimize my code best and stil be able to deliver a fairly strong visual appearence, it annoys me sometimes. +(