HTML Guide
The <!DOCTYPE html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> doctype triggers quirks mode in modern browsers and is not compliant with HTML5 standards.
The HTML5 specification requires the use of a simple doctype declaration, which ensures standards mode rendering. The correct doctype is <!DOCTYPE html>, which must appear at the very top of every HTML5 document. Legacy doctypes like HTML 4.0 Transitional are obsolete for modern web development and can cause inconsistent browser behavior.
Example of correct usage:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Valid HTML5 Doctype Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Your content here.</p>
</body>
</html>Replace any legacy or malformed doctype with the above declaration to conform to current HTML standards.
Learn more:
Related W3C validator issues
Rocket Validator checks HTML on your sites using the latest version of W3C Validator Nu HTML Checker, which is intended for HTML5 documents.
The page scanned is using an “almost standards mode” doctype, instead of the expected <!DOCTYPE html>. While the almost standards mode was used in the transition to HTML5, you should consider moving to the HTML5 standard.
Instead of using the isolang attribute to define the language of the document, you can use lang with an ISO 639-1 two character code.
For example, for Portuguese:
<html lang="pt">HTML documents are expected to start with a first line containing the Document Type Declaration, that defines the HTML version used. Since HTML5, it’s just <!DOCTYPE html>, which must appear before the start <html> tag.
Here’s an example of a minimal HTML5 document:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>HTTP status code 202 means the server has accepted the request but has not completed processing it, so the validator cannot retrieve the resource.
The W3C HTML Validator needs to retrieve external resources (like linked CSS or JS files, images, or even your webpage itself) and expects a successful 200 OK HTTP status code. If it gets a 202 Accepted instead, the resource is not fully available for validation, which prevents it from fetching and checking the content.
Causes:
- Your server is responding with a 202 Accepted and processing in the background instead of serving the full content immediately.
- You might be testing a URL that triggers background processing, a queue, or is incomplete.
- If your resource is an API or dynamic endpoint, make sure to provide a static, direct file with a 200 OK response for validation.
How to fix:
- Configure your server to respond with 200 OK and immediately provide the requested content for HTML documents or resources.
- Avoid validating URLs that return 202 Accepted. Only validate URLs serving complete resources.
The validator is blocked from accessing an external resource such as a stylesheet, script, or image due to a 403 (Forbidden) HTTP status.
This means that the HTML references a resource (often in a link, script, img, or iframe element) at a URL that is denying access—possibly due to server permissions, IP restrictions, or hotlink protection. The validator needs to retrieve these resources to check them, so HTTP 403 errors will prevent validation of external resources.
The “HTTP resource not retrievable” error with an HTTP status code of 404 indicates that the W3C Validator could not find a specific web page by its URL. This error occurs when the URL provided for a page is incorrect, or the page no longer exists at the given address.
The “HTTP resource not retrievable” error with an HTTP status code of 503 indicates that the W3C Validator could not access a web page referenced in your HTML. This error occurs when the remote server hosting the page is temporarily unavailable or overloaded.
Rocket Validator checks HTML on your sites using the latest version of W3C Validator Nu HTML Checker, which is intended for HTML5 documents.
The page scanned is using an obsolete doctype, instead of the expected <!DOCTYPE html>.
HTML documents are expected to start with a first line containing the Document Type Declaration, that defines the HTML version used. Since HTML5, it’s just <!DOCTYPE html>, which must appear before the start <html> tag.
Here’s an example of a minimal HTML5 document:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>All HTML documents must start with a <!DOCTYPE> (Document Type Declaration), that informs browsers about the type and version of HTML used to build the document. In HTML5, this is simply <!DOCTYPE html> and must appear at the start of the document.
Here is an example of a minimal HTML document, including the Document Type Declaration at its start:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p></p>
</body>
</html>