I would put “check for spec valid HTML” far down the TODO-list. I’m a perfectionist, so I would run the validator at some point, but I find it’s basically never helpful for identifying usability issues with a website. For a non-technical person setting up a personal site, does it really matter?
Browsers have gotten really good at it, but man, have I wasted hours, missed deadlines because of a stray `<li>item2<li>` and such.
HTML validity and rapid feedback is just as important as the rapid feedback of unit-tests, a type-checker or a even a linter: it shows you mistakes when you make them, rather than later, when you'll merely run into their effects.
i remember learning CSS/XHTML and getting your website to pass the validator so you could proudly show the badge on your website was a big deal.