[johnmaguire2013]

Originally Posted by zim2411

Honestly, validation isn't really important. Some of the best sites out there don't validate -- most Google products fail validation completely, but they still work just fine cross browser wise. Focus on content.

While you are correct that many of the big name sites don't validate, I disagree that it isn't important. I have a few reasons to back this up:

1. You lose points for the Website Award by not being valid.
2. The more correct tags you use, and working (X)HTML, the better bots will crawl your page for content, and understand what the content is.
3. Deviating from standards is what invented the <blink> and <marquee> tags during the browser war.
4. Standards make sure that anyone can pick up the language with an understanding of what is, and what isn't correct, and therefore makes it more maintainable.
5. Just because it works now, without standards, in "most browsers," doesn't mean it will in the future. Following standards ensures that your site should always be cross-browser compatible (except in rare cases where browsers haven't adopted the standards correctly, in which case it is no longer your fault.)