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<!DOCTYPE> |
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In the early days of browsers, a problem was identified that browsers could not figure out which "version" of html an author used. The result was the <doctype> tag. This is to tell the browser what tags to expect when laying out the page. However, it should also be noted that if a browser doesn't understand a tag, it just ignores it. This, in effect, renders <doctype> useless.
The flip side of the issue is that there are many proponents of strict standardization. Their argument is "total universality". This is a valid concept and one that must be considered when authoring HTML pages.
The Compendium of HTML Elements cannot adhere to any standards. The objective is to present a reference of all tags in such as way that "everyone" can see the tag, how it is used and, if the reader's browser will support it, see the tag working.
Having said all that, it is curious to note that WebTV does not support <!doctype>.
The doctype must always be the first element used on any page. It preceeds the <HTML> tag.
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 draft//en">
<HTML><head><body>... etc.
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 final//en"> — follows the syntax of the HTML 4.0 draft specification
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 //en"> — follows the syntax of the HTML 4.0 draft specification
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 Strict//en"> — follows the syntax of the HTML 4.0 final draft specification
<!doctype html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN" HTML32.dtd
<!doctype html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Draft//EN" HTML32.dtd
<!doctype html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN" HTML32.dtd
<!doctype html PUBLIC "ISO 8879-1986//ENTITIES Added Latin 1//EN//HTML" ISOlat1.ent