In Web development, "tag soup" refers to formatted markup written for a web page that is very much like HTML but does not consist of correct HTML syntax and document structure. Because web browsers have historically treated HTML syntax or structural errors leniently, there has been little pressure for web developers to follow published standards, and therefore there is a need for all browser implementations be able to treat what looks like HTML as "tag soup", accepting and correcting for invalid syntax and structure.
An HTML parser (part of a web browser) that is capable of interpreting HTML-like markup even if it contains invalid syntax or structure may be called a tag soup parser. All major web browsers currently have a tag soup parser for interpreting malformed HTML.
"Tag soup" may collectively refer to a large number of common authoring mistakes, such as malformed HTML tags, improperly-nested HTML elements, and unescaped character entities (especially ampersands (&) and less-than signs (<)).
I have used this term in my instruction for years to characterize the jumble of angle brackets acting like tags in HTML in pages that are accepted by browsers. Improper minimization, overlapping constructs ... stuff that looks like SGML markup but the creator didn't know or respect SGML rules for the HTML vocabulary. In effect a soupy collection of text and markup. I've never seen the term defined anywhere. —G. Ken Holman, Re: What is Tag Soup?, XML development mailing list, 11 Oct 2002.The Markup Validation Service is a resource for web page authors to avoid creating tag soup.
Read more about Tag Soup: Overview, Evolving Specifications To Solve Tag Soup
Famous quotes containing the words tag and/or soup:
“I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me
is a miracle.
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d from,
The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,
This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“In contrast to the flux and muddle of life, art is clarity and enduring presence. In the stream of life, few things are perceived clearly because few things stay put. Every mood or emotion is mixed or diluted by contrary and extraneous elements. The clarity of art—the precise evocation of mood in the novel, or of summer twilight in a painting—is like waking to a bright landscape after a long fitful slumber, or the fragrance of chicken soup after a week of head cold.”
—Yi-Fu Tuan (b. 1930)