Elegant code is nice to look at, nicely commented code is pleasing, writing nice concise, useful pod gives you a fuzzy feeling inside. However this usually matters little to the customer/user.
Your perl is nicely commented, your database is normalised to pefection, your html validates, you provide a wonderful RSS feed, does the customer/user care?
Function in my mind is more important than elegance. My father is a very practical man, I remember him fixing exhausts on cars with exhaust bandages and baked bean tins, he didn't care if it won him kudos at the local exhaust fitters guild, he cared that the exhaust gases got pushed out the back of the car.
I have done websites for small businesses before, they don't mind about standards, they want a functional website and email system. I never try to introduce them to standards, they don't care. I build them a website it works,they are happy.
Obviously if you are working on a huge system, transferring data between diverse legacy systems, then it does matter.
I think it is important to let go a little, don't panic if something doesn't validate, don't work overly hard finding that erronous tag, if it works and the customer is happy, that's what counts.