HTML Guides for almost standards
Learn how to identify and fix common HTML validation errors flagged by the W3C Validator — so your pages are standards-compliant and render correctly across every browser. Also check our Accessibility Guides.
When a browser encounters a document, the doctype declaration is the first thing it reads to determine which rendering mode to use. There are three modes: quirks mode, almost standards mode, and full standards mode. Almost standards mode was introduced as a transitional step — it renders pages mostly according to standards but retains a few legacy behaviors, particularly around how images inside table cells are laid out. Doctypes that trigger this mode include:
- <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
- <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
- <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">
These doctypes were common during the XHTML and HTML 4 era but are now considered obsolete. The W3C HTML Validator (Nu HTML Checker) is designed for HTML5 documents and expects the simple <!DOCTYPE html> declaration.
Why this matters
- Standards compliance: The HTML Living Standard (maintained by WHATWG) specifies <!DOCTYPE html> as the only valid doctype. Using anything else means your document does not conform to the current standard.
- Rendering consistency: While almost standards mode is close to full standards mode, the subtle differences — especially around vertical sizing of table cell images — can lead to unexpected layout behavior across browsers.
- Future-proofing: Legacy doctypes tie your pages to outdated specifications. Modern tooling, linters, and validators all expect HTML5, and maintaining an old doctype can mask other issues.
- Simplicity: The HTML5 doctype is short, easy to remember, and case-insensitive. There’s no reason to use a longer, more complex declaration.
How to fix it
Replace the legacy doctype on the very first line of your HTML document with <!DOCTYPE html>. No public identifier, no system identifier, and no DTD URL is needed. After making the change, review your page for any layout shifts — in most cases there will be none, but pages that relied on the subtle almost-standards-mode behavior around images in table cells may need a small CSS adjustment (such as setting img { display: block; } or img { vertical-align: bottom; } on affected images).
Examples
❌ Legacy doctype triggering almost standards mode
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello, world!</h1>
</body>
</html>❌ HTML 4.01 Transitional doctype
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello, world!</h1>
</body>
</html>✅ Correct HTML5 doctype
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>My Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello, world!</h1>
</body>
</html>The HTML5 doctype is the shortest possible doctype that triggers full standards mode in all modern browsers. It works regardless of case (<!DOCTYPE html>, <!doctype html>, or <!Doctype Html> are all equivalent), though lowercase or the conventional mixed-case form shown above is recommended for consistency.
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