WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Do doctype declarations change browser interpretations?

for

From: Terence de Giere
Date: Mar 16, 2002 1:32PM

One point to follow with Doctypes - I have noticed some developers will
put in a doctype declaration, but do not test the resulting page with an
SGML parser to check that the HTML conforms to the specification
referred to by the doctype declaration. If the browser is following the
specification referred to, this can sometimes make a big difference.

A number of graphical HTML editors put Doctype declarations in a page,
but do not produce HTML to conform to it. Some even get the Doctype
declaration wrong - certain parts of a doctype declaration are case
sensitive, so it should be used exactly as specified, as changing the
case will make it impossible for the parser to select the correct DTD
for checking. I have found that HTML coded to specification generally
displays more consistently across more browsers, especially
non-Netscape/Microsoft browsers, but this does not mean the page will
look exactly the same in all these browsers.

Terence de Giere
<EMAIL REMOVED>


----
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/