Which DocType for the most accessbile / mobile / cross browser site?

buildakicker · 01-16-2009, 04:30 PM

Hello all,

I am starting a design from scratch. I would like the site to be accessible / 508 compliant, mobile friendly and cross browser compatible.

Is there a doctype that would be the best one to use and why?

Currently I am thinking of using:

HTML Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

From what I have read, this would be the best, but haven't gotten a real firm grasp of why this would be important.

Thanks!

Wildhoney · 01-16-2009, 05:05 PM

How about one of the XHTML Mobile Profile DOCTYPES?

xml Code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD XHTML Mobile 1.0//EN"
"http://www.wapforum.org/DTD/xhtml-mobile10.dtd">
 
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD XHTML Mobile 1.1//EN"
"http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/DTD/xhtml-mobile11.dtd">
 
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD XHTML Mobile 1.2//EN"
"http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/DTD/xhtml-mobile12.dtd">

buildakicker · 01-16-2009, 05:16 PM

Do those DOCTYPE's have any issues when just rendering in the standard web browsers? Could I use a mobile DOCTYPE for the entire site? Or would it be best to create a subdirectory redirect?

Wildhoney · 01-16-2009, 06:40 PM

You could try, but I suspect it will to problems if you use the mobile DOCTYPE on a computer. I think you should have a sub-directory redirect. But of course, try the mobile DOCTYPE first on both platforms, and also try the XHTML Strict in the same scenario, as I am not too sure when it comes to this. Sorry.

maZtah · 01-17-2009, 11:02 AM

Because you can't properly design a website for a desktop and mobile device in one - because of the huge difference in screen size f.e. - this is what I am always doing:

First I design the desktop website, mostly with a XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">, but there is nothing wrong with using your HTML 4.01 Strict DOCTYPE either.

Then, after I have finished the desktop website, I design a mobile website and put it for example on a subdomain or dotMobi domain (m.domain.com or domain.mobi). For this mobile website I use the following DOCTYPE: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic11.dtd">

Then you can forward any mobile device to the mobile version or you can put a link to the mobile version on the desktop version. Although I haven't tested this script, it seems like this one will do: http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/.

Good luck!