Web Quality - Important HTML Elements
<!DOCTYPE>, <title>, and <h1> are important tags to web page quality.
The <!DOCTYPE> Element
Doctype means a "document type declaration" (DTD).
All HTML and XHTML pages should contain a <!DOCTYPE> element to define which HTML version it conforms to.
The doctype defines which version of HTML or XHTML you are using, and gives important information to your browser so it can render your page faster and more
consistently.
The doctype declaration also allows validating software to check the syntax of your page:
HTML 4.01 Strict, Transitional, Frameset
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd"> |
XHTML 1.0 Strict, Transitional, Frameset
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.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"> |
XHTML 1.1
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> |
Read more about Doctype and Page Validation at W3Schools.
The <title> Element
The <title> element is one of the most important HTML
elements. Its main function is to describe the content of a web page.
Even if the title is not a visible part of your web page, it is important to
the quality of your web site because it will be visible in
- search engine lists
- the browser's title bar
- user's bookmark
The title should be as short and descriptive as possible.
When a user search for a web site, most search engines will
display the title of your web site in the search result. Make sure the title
match the content the user is looking for. Then it is more likely the user will click
on the link to visit your web site.
After a user has visited your website, the title of your web page will be
stored in the user's history folder. Make sure the
title clearly describes your pages for future visits.
Good title examples:
<title>HTML Tutorial</title>
<title>XML Introduction</title>
Bad title examples:
<title>Introduction</title>
<title>Chapter 1</title>
<title>W3Schools has a collection of award winning, well
organized, and easy to understand HTML, CSS, JavaScript, DHTML, XML, XHTML, WAP,
ASP, SQL tutorials with lots of working examples and source code. </title>
The <h1> Element
The <h1> element is used to describe the main heading of a web page.
Because some web browsers display the <h1> element in a very large font by
default, some web developers will use the <h2> element instead of the <h1>
element for main headings. This will not confuse the reader, but it will confuse most search engines and other software that will try
to "understand" the structure of the web page.
Use <h1> for main headings, and <h2> and <h3> for lower level
headings.
Try to structure your headings after this template:
This is the main heading
Some initial text
This is a level 2 heading
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
This is a level 3 heading
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
This is a level 3 heading
This is some text. This is some text. This is some text.
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If you don't like the default size for headers, use CSS
to change it.
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