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reformed hater
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doctypes - 3/28/2006 10:16:51
I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread so here i am....
I still don't get doctypes. I've read the articles provided by Womble, and still don't get them. Then I was informed that since I was new to coding to use a "loose" doctype, but that just messes up my layout. 
this is my temporary page just so you can look at what I'm talking about....
What type of doctype is this and how do you know?!?!?!?!?!
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
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When asked what the White House was like by a British student George W. Bush responded “It is White"
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womble
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RE: doctypes - 3/28/2006 10:40:23
Okay, step by step then...(might be an idea to get a book on html, or check out the W3C's specifications for (x)html at some point in this process so you can check out what's allowed and what's not)
....so you paste in your doctype - in your case the HTML 4.01 transitional.
quote:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
It has to go in the code as the very first thing - nothing else goes before it - even the <html> tag.
As you've found that will most probably "mess up your page" because the browser's now trying to render your code according to the official rules. Don't worry, that's kinda supposed to happen at this stage!
Next step, off you go to the W3C Validator with your newly doctyped page and either type in the url in the appropriate box or upload the page to the validator (or cut 'n' paste your code into the direct input box). Choose the 'verbose' option when asked, and it'll try and explain to you in W3C-speak what the problems are.
Next comes the scary bit....click "check" and it'll come up with a whole list of things that are wrong with the code most likely. DON'T PANIC! That's normal. Have a read through what it says, and see if any of it makes any sense, and perhaps try and correct some of the errors it comes up with, then try validating the page again. Problems or anything you don't understand, come back here and give us a shout.
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~~ "A cruel god ain't no god at all" ~~
~~ Erase hate. Practice love. ~~
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womble
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RE: doctypes - 3/28/2006 11:02:59
Very true old chap. I feel Tail's approach is possibly the correct one - get the doctype, then worry about validation, cos as you so rightly pointed out, without a doctype it ain't gonna happen anyhow.
_____________________________
~~ "A cruel god ain't no god at all" ~~
~~ Erase hate. Practice love. ~~
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reformed hater
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RE: doctypes - 3/28/2006 17:18:13
yeah well i'm new to this coding thing and so my page is all screwy... so back to the recoding.
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When asked what the White House was like by a British student George W. Bush responded “It is White"
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reformed hater
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 9:19:00
The CSS validator doesn't say that it's valid but it gives me a list of "warnings" along w/ this message: quote:
To work as intended, your CSS style sheet needs a correct document parse tree. This means you should use valid HTML.
Is it valid? Should I change the warnings?
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When asked what the White House was like by a British student George W. Bush responded “It is White"
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dpf
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 10:48:30
quote:
Others will no doubt disagree with me. does today end in "y"?
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reformed hater
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 11:00:31
I understand what you are saying Queen Tail, but this is my thought: Know your audience. No one but me will understand (and I barely get it) the valid vs non valid sites. the only thing in the non valid world that troubles me is the cross browser function.
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When asked what the White House was like by a British student George W. Bush responded “It is White"
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dpf
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 11:15:05
Rh ; it doesnt have to be either or. you are new to all this - you readily admit to that - we all were, right. why not move forward on 2 tracks. track 1 - do the site you need to do for your employer - use the best coding you can but making it work and look nice is priority one. track 2 ?? you sem committed to learning so track 2 is spending time learning proper coding..maybe making some test sites or a personal site. with guidance from experts like tail and spit and caz and womble et.al, you will be ther in no time (avoiding people like golfer and yours truly is essential to your progress)
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Minix
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 12:38:20
I only do a select few sites - about 8 right now. I don't look for new business, but rather design for the projects and clients I select. They are all very basic static sites for informational purposes only. I use FP and very little else. A little CSS here and there, but basic tables, cells and images, with the standard browser friendly texts.
I never use a doctype.
In the last three years, I've had very, very few instances of people not being able to view the sites or having problems accessing the sites for what they are intended to do - get information to the surfers. In any of the browsers.
I tried the doctype thing once at the beginning of a design. It created nothing but problems.
So basically I cover my eyes with both hands and say "You can't see me"!
< Message edited by Minix -- 3/29/2006 13:00:58 >
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spitfire
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 12:41:50
quote:
ORIGINAL: Minix
I've had very, very few instances of people being able to view the sites
Err.. would you like to take the chance to edit that?
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spitfire
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 12:46:51
Quite. Have we reached a consensus RH?
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Minix
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RE: doctypes - 3/29/2006 13:01:30
quote:
ORIGINAL: spitfire
quote:
ORIGINAL: Minix
I've had very, very few instances of people being able to view the sites
Err.. would you like to take the chance to edit that?
Yes. Thank you.
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Printable Version 
that's 2 count 'em TWO valid sheets!!!!!!!! 
