Because it declares under which "version" of HTML you are coding and
therefore defines what is correct HTML in that document.

You can read all about DTD's and their reason for existing in the HTML 4.0
Specification [0].

[0] http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40 , especially section 7.

Ben Z. Tels
optimusb(at)stack.nl
http://www.stack.nl/~optimusb/

"The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle
forever."
                                                    --Tsiolkovsky
-----Original Message-----
From: Monique Gulick <moniqueg(at)pobox.com>
To: hwg-critique(at)hwg.org <hwg-critique(at)hwg.org>
Date: dinsdag 5 mei 1998 0:17
Subject: document type?


>I have read a number of post in this group noting how important it is to
>put document type on your web pages.  Can someone explain why and where I
>might read more information about this?

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