Doctype

**Muddy** · 01-05-2009, 08:15 PM

Hi folks,

Two questions:

1. How important is validating your site?

2. What is the best doctype for HTML created in FP?

Thanks so much in advance!

Muddy

**htmlbasictutor** · 01-05-2009, 10:35 PM

Why Validate?

In addition to the explaination given above:
-If you use a Strict DOCTYPE it helps you clean up your extra coding that should be in your stylesheet.
-Cleaner coding makes it easier for the search engine bots and those using assistive technology to read your website.
-Cleaner coding makes it easier to maintain a website, especially if you get out of the habit of using inline styles and embedded (internal) stylesheets.

From the article above:

Quote:

"...Do remember: household-name companies expect people to visit because of the name and in spite of dreadful websites. Can you afford that luxury?...

Quote:

What is the best doctype for HTML created in FP?

If you only know HTML, and want to learn to code in preparation for the future but still not ready for XHTML then you would use the Strict declaration.

Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

(HTML 4.01 forms part of the XTHML standard)

On the other hand, if you know XHTML (or want to learn it) then use

Code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

Differences Between XHTML And HTML

**htmlbasictutor** · 01-05-2009, 10:46 PM

Modern browsers also have quirks mode and strict modes.
Quirks mode and strict mode

Activating Browser Modes with Doctype

**Muddy** · 01-06-2009, 12:25 PM

Thanks a ton for all the info H!
I tried putting this code in my pages (<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">), but my site went from 54 errors to 184. Also, it changed the appearance drastically in that all the cells became much taller leaving lots of space around the cell contents.

Budois · 01-06-2009, 12:51 PM

Maybe your websites presentational information (cell height etc.) is defined inside your html code. When u use strict html u can't have those attributes inside your code (this will generate an error). Everything related to presentation of your website should be placed inside style tags or a CSS sheet.

nasty.web · 01-07-2009, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muddy

Thanks a ton for all the info H!
I tried putting this code in my pages (<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">), but my site went from 54 errors to 184. Also, it changed the appearance drastically in that all the cells became much taller leaving lots of space around the cell contents.

Use

Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

Transitional doctype is a bit more forgiving than strict.