Best Doctype and why?

[the penguin]

What's the best doctype to use and why should I use it?

Thanks

[traq]

you should use the doctype that matches the code you write. :D

Personally, I use html 4.01 strict. It's the most widely supported by browsers.

xhtml is fine too, though most browsers don't actually parse it as xml, which means (IMO) that there's really not much point. It's nothing more than html 4 with self-closing tags.

html 5 is far from being ready. You have to use javascript hacks to get it to work at all in IE, and the more useful elements aren't working at all yet.

Whichever you choose, use the "Strict" version of the doctype (except html5, of course, which has no DTD) and make sure your code follows the rules. That way, you can ensure your markup is being rendered consistently.

[djr33]

I'm closing this discussion. Please do a search for similar topics before starting a new one.
Here's a long discussion, for example:
http://dynamicdrive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54587