Specifing a DOCTYPE, is it really needed?

[Mr. Analog]

All I'm saying is this:



Specifying DOCTYPE and adhering to W3C Standards is applicable when:



-You want your content to be processed by a specific parser if available



-You want your content processed by a wide variety of clients be aware of standard implementations



Additionally:



-If you need markup that can be programmatically accessable with a particluar parser; specify it and adhere to the standards req'd for that parser (e.g. XHTML)



-Use the right tag for the right job, DIV tags aren't for tabular data the same way tables aren't for divisional boundaries.



-Reliance on proprietary client tools is a limitation



-If you want to save bandwidth, be aware of your inteded user and use the proper tools or design patterns at your disposal (HTML 3.2 with no image files)



The bottom line for web development is always consider the userbase and the future of your application. If you know your entire userbase is locked into using IE 6.x on a specific Windows platform then you can code anything that fits within that schema (the same way you would write a desktop client application, knowing the target deployment platform is important for a variety of reasons). If you know that you will never, ever have to run your web application through an XML parser don't bother conforming to XHTML. Above all else, use your own discretion.