[whatwg] HTML5 DOCTYPE suggestion

Sat Feb 21 17:56:49 PST 2009

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 mikemikeb at verizon.net wrote:
>
> I have a suggestion for HTML5 involving the currently planned doctype, 
> <!DOCTYPE HTML>.
> 
> It came to my mind that there could be many a web developer, looking to 
> create a basic webpage for friends, that might use the HTML 5 doctype 
> thinking that the doctype is used, or even needed, just for basic HTML, 
> cheapening the perception of the HTML5 "brand", so to speak. If the 
> doctype is <!DOCTYPE HTML5> instead, then those developers are much more 
> likely to understand that the doctype is for HTML5 only, and respect the 
> doctype more.
> 
> By the way, if the HTML5 doctype is changed, I suggest notifying the 
> Internet Explorer team of the change quicker than other browser makers, 
> because Microsoft is a) so close to IE 8 release, and b) not going to 
> release new IE versions as often as Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome, 
> Camino, Konquerer, Flock...

As others have noted, the DOCTYPE in HTML5 is intended to be 
version-agnostic, for use with all (future) versions of HTML. It is not 
intended to be detected by browser vendors or anyone for any purpose, 
though for historical reasons it is one of the DOCTYPEs that reliably 
triggers standards mode in browsers (in fact it is the shortest such 
DOCTYPE that is still compatible with XML).

HTH,
-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'