Stylesheets - Does it matter if Javascript code comes before you DOCTYPE?

Author

Does it matter if Javascript code comes before you DOCTYPE?

~john

2006-08-09, 7:14 pm

I'm including files via PHP includes and as of now, the javascript code
is being included before my header... my header contains my doctype.
Does this matter?

~john

Harlan Messinger

2006-08-09, 7:14 pm

[forwarding question from c.i.w.a.stylesheets to c.i.w.a.html since it
has nothing to do with stylesheets]

~john wrote:
> I'm including files via PHP includes and as of now, the javascript code
> is being included before my header... my header contains my doctype.
> Does this matter?

David Dorward

2006-08-09, 7:14 pm

~john wrote:

> I'm including files via PHP includes and as of now, the javascript code
> is being included before my header... my header contains my doctype.
> Does this matter?

Yes. The Doctype must come first.

--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me.uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is

Andy Dingley

2006-08-10, 6:38 am

~john wrote:

> I'm including files via PHP includes

So _you_ control the ordering, it's not just some evil imposed on you
by cheapskate hosting.

> the javascript code is being included before my header.

Stop doing that. You control the includes, so fix it.

> Does this matter?

It doesn't (practically) appear to matter to the JavaScript, although
it is strictly speaking invalid.

It certainly does matter to the doctype, which will effectively
disappear. As you're hopefully relying on the doctype to switch the
browsers into a standards-based rendering mode, then this is bad and
needs fixing.