Doctype
There are several different document types, or "doctypes." A doctype is a statement in the document saying what type of document it is, and what version. Some of the common modern doctypes include:
- XHTML 1.0 Strict (this is the one we're learning here)
- XHTML 1.0 Transitional
- XHTML 1.0 Frameset
- HTML 4.01 Strict
- HTML 4.01 Transitional
- HTML 4.01 Frameset
The "transitional" doctypes allow web developers to be sloppier. This may sound like a good idea, but it limits what you can do, and reduces the reliability of the output. Because the strict doctypes follow the rules more closely, the results are more reliable. Using strict doctypes increases the likelihood that documents will look the same across different kinds of browsers on different operating systems.
The frameset doctypes are used when creating a document that is actually a collection of two or more documents in a frameset. One document acts as the "frame"or container for the other documents inside of it. The container document specifies the height and width of the documents inside of it, and other properties. The documents inside will not use the frameset doctype. They will use a regular doctype, such as XHTML 1.0 strict.
Below is the doctype for XHTML 1.0 strict:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
And here is the XHTML 1.0 frameset doctype:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">
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