HTML and XHTML Doctypes have been around for a long time, but in order to make the Web that bit easier for novice webmasters, who don't always understand the intricacies of Doctypes, it will soon be time for all of the current Doctypes to bow-wow out gracefully and make way for something new:

DOGtype Declarations!

Dogtype Declarations are easy to use. You simply choose the Dogtype that most closely matches the characteristics of your website.

Here, from the newly-formed 'Woof Woof Woof Consortium' is a handy beginners' guide to available Dogtypes:

Collie or Sheepdog Dogtype - Use this DTD if your site is there to do a job, rather than being there merely for entertainment purposes. Suitable sites will be totally professional, ultra-reliable, and never let you down, although they might be a trifle dull or lacking in surprises at times.

Poodle Dogtype - for Flash-heavy sites that are all style and very little substance. Why poodle? Think dyed pink and over-pampered showdogs, usually called Fifi and often seen sporting lots of bows or ribbons and other canine bling.

Whippet or Greyhound - For fast-loading sites. Not too many images. No animated gifs. Lightweight stylesheet.

Bloodhound (or alternatively the Spaniel dogtype) - Do you use 'browser sniffing' javascripts in your page? Then you need one of these 'sniffer dog' Dogtypes!

Mutt or Mongrel - For sites that have been around since the dawn of time. The site owners have only just heard about Doctype declarations and decided to stick the first doctype that comes along at the top of their page. Anything's better than Quirks mode, they think. Ha! But if backwards compatibility is an issue for you then use Mutt/Mongrel.

Labrador - A useful Dogtype if you need to address issues of accessibility particularly with regard to blind users.

Pit Bull - Suitable for any site that grabs your browser, locks on and simply refuses to let go, so you can neither click to go back, forwards or anywhere and have to do a Control-Alt-Delete manoeuvre in order to escape. This usually happens because of images that have not been properly optimised. Or there may be too many animations. Or scripts. On rare occasions these problems might not actually be caused by the website. It could just be that your old Commodore 64 just can't handle today's fast-paced Internet. But usually it is the site that is at fault.

Dachshund - The dachshund is a long dog, also called a 'sausage dog' because of its shape. Use this Dogtype if you have one of those old sites that has everything on the site on one looooong single page. This page will carry on scrolling down forever as it loads. You know the ones I mean. Scroll much further and you will probably find yourself in Australia. (Of course, if you live in Australia, then you will probably end up scrolling down to England. Life can be tough sometimes, can't it?) When I come across one of these sites I start to get really jittery as I watch the scrollbar shrink down to about one millimeter wide. My mouse is simply not engineered to be able to get hold of something that small!

Great Dane - Restricted Dogtype for websites in Denmark (near Norway, Europe). This Dogtype is expected to be of little significance to most webmasters in the rest of the world.

Unfortunately none of the current versions of IE are compatible with any of these new Dogtypes (except Mutt/Mongrel). So IE will render your pages in Quirks mode whether you use them or not. Other browsers handle Dogtypes correctly and it is anticipated that IE7 will do so too.

Web developers believe that if the Dogtype declaration is included in major search engine listings it will be a big help to Web users everywhere. Surfers will be warned in advance whether a site uses lots of Flash, scripts or animations and can then decide whether or not to click on a link.

The above Dogtypes will all have a Strict and a Transitional version. The Transitional Dogtypes all allow for the use of deprecated squeaky pet toys. Unfortunately though, there are no plans for any of the new Dogtypes to have a Frameset version.

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