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In the world of web development, starting an HTML document correctly is crucial for ensuring that the page is rendered as intended across different web browsers. This is where the <!DOCTYPE>
declaration comes into play. This article will explore the purpose of the <!DOCTYPE>
declaration in HTML and provide examples to illustrate its use.
The <!DOCTYPE>
declaration is an instruction to the web browser about what version of HTML the page is written in. It is not an HTML tag; rather, it is a declaration that helps the browser to render the content correctly. It must be the very first thing in your HTML document, before the <html>
tag.
The <!DOCTYPE>
declaration is not case sensitive, but it is customary to write it in uppercase.
<!DOCTYPE>
declaration, web browsers may enter “quirks mode” where the page’s contents are displayed in a non-standard way. This can lead to inconsistencies across different browsers.<!DOCTYPE>
helps in making sure that your web page remains functional and appears as intended with future updates to web browsers.For HTML5, the <!DOCTYPE>
declaration is very simple:
<!DOCTYPE html>
This declaration tells the browser that the document is an HTML5 document.
HTML 4.01 has three different <!DOCTYPE>
declarations, depending on the type of HTML document you are writing:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">
XHTML also has different <!DOCTYPE>
declarations. For instance, XHTML 1.0 Strict:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
The <!DOCTYPE>
declaration is a critical part of HTML coding. It ensures that your web page is interpreted correctly by the browser, leading to a more consistent and standards-compliant web experience. Whether you are working with HTML5, HTML 4.01, or XHTML, starting your document with the correct <!DOCTYPE>
declaration is the first step in web development best practices.