I'm using HTML editor 2008 (build 235) and have recently experienced some instances of my coding spontaneously changing itself. I've submitted a page of coding for validation and it's passed. A short while later the same page fails validation with almost 2,000 problems, mostly involving tags changing throughout -- <br /> becomes <br>, <font> becomes <FONT>,
<font color="#ff0000"> becomes <font color=#ff0000>, &c., &c. Also, the
tidy, easily readable appearance of my paragraphs become list, and the whole thing becomes a total mess.

There seems to be -- but I'm not certain of this -- some connection between these occurrences and the use of the Visual Editor. Has anyone else had problems of this sort?

Hi,

To my knowledge, you should never switch back and forth from the code editor to the visual editor. I think the program even gives a warning that your code will be changed, and should prompt you to save your code before switching. If you want to view your web page, there is a "preview" tab, and that is what you should use.
There is an option in the settings to "hide visual editor tab", and I recommend clicking on that so you can't accidentally switch and mess up the files.
Best practice is to use one or the other, but not both on the same file.

Thanks, Cliff, for the information. Of course, if I'd taken the trouble to read the help file I would have been alerted to the dangers of switching between editing modes. I won't be doing that again, and I've hidden the Visual Editing tab to make sure. Still. . . it is a pity that there is this shortcoming in the software. Sometimes, problems seen in the preview window are not easy to spot -- like periods that have accidentally fallen outside the tags and create ugly gaps in paragraph spacing -- but show up clearly in the Visual Editing mode. Maybe using the split-screen feature will compensate for this. -- Patrick