DOCTYPES (was Re: Runtime Error)

At 21:48 30/01/02 -0800, Brandon Coughlin wrote:
<snip />
>Regarding the doctype.  It is "technically" required on HTML documents
>unless you are trying to code the page to be compliant.

DOCTYPES should only be used on pages that are valid (X)HTML. A page with 
some MathML embedded in it won't be valid XHTML, so it shouldn't have a 
DOCTYPE for example. Theoretically, a validating parser that comes across a 
page with a DOCTYPE should stop processing if it comes across a document 
with a DOCTYPE and errors.

Some modern browsers also have two modes, compliant and quirks. In 
compliant mode they try to stick exactly to the W3 specs. In quirks mode 
they behave as the older browsers used to. The change from quirks to sttict 
is usually caused by the presence of particular DOCTYPES. This is another 
reason for only using DOCTYPES on valid pages, and is why some problems can 
be solved by removing DOCTYPES.

<snip />
>Someone also recommended running it through the validator. That was going to
>be my next stop.
<snip />

The validator is an excellent service. Running your pages through the 
validator really helps, both in catching errors that cause problems in 
current browsers and in catching errors in coding style that may cause you 
difficulties in the future. It is worthwhile using the DOCTYPE override 
option to validate your pages against XHTML 1.0 Strict so you get a feel 
for the changes you need to make to upgrade your coding techniques. The CSS 
validator is also invaluable.

Andrew

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