Joomled! HTML entities not displaying

I've had a real problem with the Joomla! site that I'm building -- the HTML entities kept disappearing, so that & became & and threw an error in the HTML validator. As everyone knows, HTML validation is an invaluable tool, not because I'm a pernickity pedant who likes to be right (?!) but because a single character out of place in your HTML can throw out DIV tags the size of continents. This is also why the HTML Validator Firefox extension is such an invaluable tool.

I was seeing this error/behaviour even though I was using the "No Editor" option for entering text and HTML. Hmm. On further discussion with the Joomla! craftsman Dan from Buzzo Design, it transpires that it's a security fix in version 1.5.8. The default settings are to disallow people from entering HTML tags, see this Joomla! documentation page and this blog entry by Protocoder.

Now all my pages validate and I am a happy bunny. Thanks again Dan :)