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I have just been involved in writing an application that does not use Doctype's on the jsp's. It has become increasingly difficult to fix html errors on different browsers because of this. I have done some research and understand what is going on and how to fix it, but that is not my question.

I have noticed that Amazon.com and Cat.com do not use Doctypes. There are many other major sites that do not use them either. Anyone know if there is a reason for this? How do they get around quirksmode?

Robert Harvey
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markthegrea
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  • Very closely related: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1038191/google-homepage-not-valid-html – Sinan Ünür Mar 03 '10 at 16:49
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    Companies that run websites do a lot of things that programmers do not deem "kosher." Sometimes the company wants to make money rather than making everything "perfect." They have a point. – Robert Harvey Mar 03 '10 at 16:51
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    I can't help but feel that there is a real question here: "[does] anyone know if there is a reason for [not declaring a doctype]? How do they get around quirks-mode?" To that end, I'm voting to re-open. – David Thomas Mar 03 '10 at 16:54
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    I didn't vote to close your question, but if you are not satisfied by the comments and answer provided, and want to ask it again in a different form, I would like to suggest a more neutral title. I understand the question and think it is a programming question, but the current title makes it look like the beginning of a rant, to which people here may have become over-sensitive. Perhaps "What are reasons not to use doctypes in 2010?". It is fine to use Amazon.com as an example in the body. – Pascal Cuoq Mar 03 '10 at 16:56
  • When I say "ask again in a different form", perhaps I mean "edit so that voters can re-open". I don't know what is possible to do with closed question. – Pascal Cuoq Mar 03 '10 at 17:00

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How do they get around quirksmode?

I think that they don't. They're probably doing it deliberately. Despite Google dropping support for IE6, Amazon still probably has to support a lot of old browsers, even those before IE6.

noah
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