Table of Contents
What Does DOCTYPE Stand For?
Common HTML DOCTYPEs
HTML5 Doctype
Home Web Front-end HTML Tutorial What is a doctype in html?

What is a doctype in html?

Sep 21, 2025 am 01:29 AM
html doctype

DOCTYPE stands for Document Type Declaration and is not an HTML tag but a directive indicating the HTML version. It ensures browsers render the page in standards mode, avoiding quirks mode with inconsistent behavior. Over time, different HTML versions used various doctypes, such as HTML 4.01 Strict, HTML 4.01 Transitional, and XHTML 1.0, each referencing a specific DTD. The modern HTML5 doctype is simplified to , which is case-insensitive, easy to remember, and does not require a DTD since HTML5 no longer relies on SGML. This declaration must be placed at the top of every HTML document to ensure consistent rendering and proper validation across browsers.

What is a doctype in html?

A doctype in HTML tells the browser which version of HTML the document is written in. It ensures the page is rendered correctly by switching the browser into standards mode, rather than quirks mode, which can cause inconsistent layout and behavior.

What Does DOCTYPE Stand For?

DOCTYPE stands for "Document Type Declaration." It’s not an HTML tag but a directive placed at the very top of an HTML document. Its main job is to inform the browser about the type and version of HTML used, so it knows how to interpret the markup.

Common HTML DOCTYPEs

Over the years, different versions of HTML have used different doctypes:

HTML 4.01 Strict:
HTML 4.01 Transitional:
XHTML 1.0:

HTML5 Doctype

The modern HTML5 doctype is simple and case-insensitive:

This short declaration is easy to remember and triggers standards mode in all current browsers. It works for any HTML5 document and doesn’t reference a DTD (Document Type Definition) because HTML5 doesn’t rely on SGML like older versions did.

Every HTML document should start with to ensure consistent rendering and proper validation. Without it, browsers might fall back to quirks mode, leading to unexpected display issues.

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