Is DOCTYPE necessary?

[Xstr8guy]

Will West just asked me why my sites don't include DOCTYPE info before the head. My web editor doesn't automatically insert this info, so I've never bothered. Is it necessary anymore?

[Squirt]

I have absolutely no idea :wtf:

[jIgG]

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/8260.htm

[Xstr8guy]

Thanks for the link, jIgG. I'm not going to sweat it, then. I'm not going to bother to go back and add it to all of my old sites.

[Squirt]

Originally posted by jIgG
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/8260.htm

Damn! $89 to join webmaster world for 6 months

[_ap_]

If you write XHTML compatible pages, then you probably should include a DOCTYPE. If you aren't writing XHTML-compatible code then I wouldn't bother.

The cool thing about DOCTYPE tags is that it disables alot of old bugs that have turned into features found in many browsers. If however you have used some bugs in getting your site to work (eg, using DD & UL indent text), then you could have a problem.

This table from the Helsinki University of Technology should explain it:

http://www.hut.fi/u/hsivonen/doctype.html

When using XHTML & a strict doctype, excessive use of the XHTML validator @ w3c is recommended:

http://validator.w3c.org/

Another good tip is dont use IE as your main browser when doing development, as it will lead to non-standards compatible code. A better tip is to use multiple browsers when developing and get into the habbit of switching between them interchangably while building your site.

We test everything with Mozilla, Opera, IE, and Mac OSX' Safari.

A final tip - do a google search for "degrading gracefully".

ap.

[Lee]

Originally posted by _ap_
If you write XHTML compatible pages, then you probably should include a DOCTYPE. If you aren't writing XHTML-compatible code then I wouldn't bother.

The cool thing about DOCTYPE tags is that it disables alot of old bugs that have turned into features found in many browsers. If however you have used some bugs in getting your site to work (eg, using DD & UL indent text), then you could have a problem.

This table from the Helsinki University of Technology should explain it:

http://www.hut.fi/u/hsivonen/doctype.html

When using XHTML & a strict doctype, excessive use of the XHTML validator @ w3c is recommended:

http://validator.w3c.org/

Another good tip is dont use IE as your main browser when doing development, as it will lead to non-standards compatible code. A better tip is to use multiple browsers when developing and get into the habbit of switching between them interchangably while building your site.

We test everything with Mozilla, Opera, IE, and Mac OSX' Safari.

A final tip - do a google search for "degrading gracefully".

ap.

Wow an excellent reply thanks for sharing that info

Regards,

Lee