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Which doctype to use?


Wuhtzu

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Hey

I'm having trouble choosing the right doctype for my html files. My problem is that when I include a doctype, like [b]<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">[/b] some of my css doesn't work.

It is the height property for a table that doesn't work:

[b]style.css[/b]
[code]
table.table{
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  border-style: solid;
  }
[/code]

[b]html file[/b]
[code]
<html>

<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
</head>

<body>

<table class="table">
  <tr>
    <td>skid mig i munden
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

</body>
</html>
[/code]

The result can be seen here:

http://wuhtzu.dk/random/doctype/nodoctype.html
http://wuhtzu.dk/random/doctype/doctype.html

When the doctype is specified the [b]height: 100%;[/b] doesn't apply. I have been looking at this list for hours http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html and eventually tryied almost all of them without any luck.


Which doctype should i choose?


Best regards
Wuhtzu
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Sorry for asking such a dumb question. It is of course me who should write according to the doctype and not the other way round. Sedondly the page is viewed correctly when the <!DOCTYPE> is specified -> height 100% is 100% of the parent element, which is <body> and <body> doesn't fill the browser windows vertically.

Wuhtzu
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Well it would be better if you changed from HTML to XHTML. There is not that much difference, but XHTML is better. As far as I can see, the code you posted do already follow the XHTML 1.1 rules (or whatever to call it).

[url=http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/]More info about XHTML 1.1[/url]
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Thanks for the advice, I'll concider to validate the code as both html 4.01 and xhtml 1.1 :)
Of course the posted code is just an ultra simple example, but it was during the height=100% of a table i noticed the problem...

Wuhtzu
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  • 3 weeks later...
Actually, the reason most of us are starting to use XHTML is because it gets us away from using HTML tags that are eventually going to be obsolete. It helps break you of being lazy and using junk code that MS loves so much - I am now in the habit of closing all tags.

It is important, particularly when using css, because if you don't close a tag, that style will bleed into the next tag.

If you are converting a huge number of old html to make them valid, it may be better to start with using html 4 transitional.

But remember, the doctype is only the first step. You must make sure you actually then write valid code for that particular doctype.

And for any web developer that means using two great tools.

1. the w3c html validator [url=http://validator.w3.org/]http://validator.w3.org/[/url]

2. Firefox with the webdeveloper toolbar extension. I couldn't imagine life online without this fabulous toolbar.
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