$("#myform").validate(

  {

    rules:

    {

      url:

      {

        required: true, url: true

      }

    } ,

    errorLabelContainer: "#messageArea"

  }

  ) 

This should put the error messages in an element with id messageArea no? 

But it keeps generating a label and writing that out next to my form field, obscuring other elements on the page. Can't seem to stop it.