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HTML5 <!DOCTYPE> Declaration

Example

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration for HTML5:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>

<body>
The content of the document......
</body>

</html>

Try it yourself »

Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration is supported in all major browsers.

Definition and Usage

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration must be the very first thing in your HTML5 document, before the <html> tag.

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration is not an HTML tag; it is an instruction to the web browser about what version of HTML the page is written in.

In HTML 4.01, all <!DOCTYPE> declarations require a reference to a DTD, because HTML 4.01 was based on SGML.

HTML5 is not based on SGML, and therefore does not require a reference to a DTD.

Tip: Always add the <!DOCTYPE> declaration to your HTML documents, so that the browser knows what type of document to expect.

Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5

There are three different <!DOCTYPE> declarations in HTML 4.01. In HTML5 there is only one:

<!DOCTYPE html>

Tips and Notes

Note: The <!DOCTYPE> tag does not have an end tag.

Tip: The <!DOCTYPE> declaration is NOT case sensitive.

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