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Richard Nash
24,862 PointsWhat is the bang(!) for at the beginning of the HTML 5 doctype?
Just curious what the bang, which is the exclamation mark, is for in the HTML 5 Document declaration, like this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
It is my understanding that the bang generally means "not", but it must have a different meaning here then? Because this doctype would "not" be an HTML doc...
Just wonderin'... :-)
Cheers,
R
2 Answers
Christian Andersson
8,712 PointsThe exclamation mark is part of the construct for creating a markup declaration back in HTML 4. In HTML 5 it has no role or meaning other than triggering a "standard-mode" in browsers. In the XML Recommendation (XML is what XHTML is based off) it is stated that declaration elements must begin with an exclamation mark. Comments are also declarations and they too begin with an exclamation mark.
What you are thinking of is a boolean negation, which is related to programming. HTML is not a programming language (it's a markup language) so it has nothing to do with that. HTML has changed a lot in the 20+ years of its' existence - what you are seeing is just a remnant of this very evolution. It's just an old practice. :)
Kim Cowart
32,918 PointsHey Richard,
It seems to be just some declaration syntax. The following is a pretty good elaboration on it, I thought.
Hope that helps
Richard Nash
24,862 PointsRichard Nash
24,862 Pointswell....shit. Amazing answer, thank you! XD