Fix Your Site With the Right Dogtype
HTML and XHTML Doctypes have been around for a long time, but in
order to make the Web that bit easier for novice webmasters, who
don't always understand the intricacies of Doctypes, it will
soon be time for all of the current Doctypes to bow-wow out
gracefully and make way for something new:
DOGtype Declarations!
Dogtype Declarations are easy to use. You simply choose the
Dogtype that most closely matches the characteristics of your
website.
Here, from the newly-formed 'Woof Woof Woof Consortium' is a
handy beginners' guide to available Dogtypes:
Collie or Sheepdog Dogtype - Use this DTD if your site is there
to do a job, rather than being there merely for entertainment
purposes. Suitable sites will be totally professional,
ultra-reliable, and never let you down, although they might be a
trifle dull or lacking in surprises at times.
Poodle Dogtype - for Flash-heavy sites that are all style and
very little substance. Why poodle? Think dyed pink and
over-pampered showdogs, usually called Fifi and often seen
sporting lots of bows or ribbons and other canine bling.
Whippet or Greyhound - For fast-loading sites. Not too many
images. No animated gifs. Lightweight stylesheet.
Bloodhound (or alternatively the Spaniel dogtype) - Do you use
'browser sniffing' javascripts in your page? Then you need one
of these 'sniffer dog' Dogtypes!
Mutt or Mongrel - For sites that have been around since the dawn
of time. The site owners have only just heard about Doctype
declarations and decided to stick the first doctype that comes
along at the top of their page. Anything's better than Quirks
mode, they think. Ha! But if backwards compatibility is an issue
for you then use Mutt/Mongrel. Labrador - A useful Dogtype if
you need to address issues of accessibility particularly with
regard to blind users.
Pit Bull - Suitable for any site that grabs your browser, locks
on and simply refuses to let go, so you can neither click to go
back, forwards or anywhere and have to do a Control-Alt-Delete
manoeuvre in order to escape. This usually happens because of
images that have not been properly optimised. Or there may be
too many animations. Or scripts. On rare occasions these
problems might not actually be caused by the website. It could
just be that your old Commodore 64 just can't handle today's
fast-paced Internet. But usually it is the site that is at fault.
Dachshund - The dachshund is a long dog, also called a 'sausage
dog' because of its shape. Use this Dogtype if you have one of
those old sites that has everything on the site on one looooong
single page. This page will carry on scrolling down forever as
it loads. You know the ones I mean. Scroll much further and you
will probably find yourself in Australia. (Of course, if you
live in Australia, then you will probably end up scrolling down
to England. Life can be tough sometimes, can't it?) When I come
across one of these sites I start to get really jittery as I
watch the scrollbar shrink down to about one millimeter wide. My
mouse is simply not engineered to be able to get hold of
something that small!
Great Dane - Restricted Dogtype for websites in Denmark (near
Norway, Europe). This Dogtype is expected to be of little
significance to most webmasters in the rest of the world.
Unfortunately none of the current versions of IE are compatible
with any of these new Dogtypes (except Mutt/Mongrel). So IE will
render your pages in Quirks mode whether you use them or not.
Other browsers handle Dogtypes correctly and it is anticipated
that IE7 will do so too.
Web developers believe that if the Dogtype declaration is
included in major search engine listings it will be a big help
to Web users everywhere. Surfers will be warned in advance
whether a site uses lots of Flash, scripts or animations and can
then decide whether or not to click on a link.
The above Dogtypes will all have a Strict and a Transitional
version. The Transitional Dogtypes all allow for the use of
deprecated squeaky pet toys. Unfortunately though, there are no
plans for any of the new Dogtypes to have a Frameset version.