tag soup

Tag soup is HTML code written without regard for the rules of HTML structure and semantics (HTML is the markup language which composes Web pages). Generally, tag soup is created when the author is using HTML for a presentational document rather than a semantic document. Because web browsers have always treated HTML errors leniently, tag soup is also used by browser implementers to refer to all HTML. HTML must be treated by web browsers as tag soup in comparison to XML where errors need not, and should not, be corrected according to the specification.