[thelist] What is DOCTYPE?

[aardvark]

> From: John Craft <jcraft at jonesmcclure.com>
>
> I've seen mentioned on this newsletter various problems with including
> DOCTYPE in HTML, but I don't really understand why that is.  I've also
> recently read somewhere (the site escapes me) a workaround that
> included not putting in the full URL in the DOCTYPE declaration.
> Could someone please explain in more detail what DOCTYPE does and when
> and when not to use it? Does using DOCTYPE automatically validate your
> code with the W3?

a DOCTYPE tells the browser, as well as a validator, what version
of HTML, or whatever markup language, you are using to code the
page...

it does not make your markup automagically valid... you still need
to validate...

leaving the URL out is a common hack to address N6 rendering
quirks....  more info:

Does Netscape 6 Break Your Table Layouts?
http://evolt.org/article/list/17/4427/