About the XHTML code generated by Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver generates new XHTML code and cleans up existing XHTML code in a way that meets most of the XHTML requirements. Dreamweaver also provides you with the tools that you need to meet the few XHTML requirements that remain.

NOTE

Some of the requirements described in this section are also required in various versions of HTML.

The following table describes the XHTML requirements that Dreamweaver meets automatically.

XHTML requirement	Actions Dreamweaver performs to meet this requirement
There must be a DOCTYPE declaration in the document prior to the root element, and the declaration must reference one of the three Document Type Definition (DTD) files for XHTML (strict, transitional, or frameset).	Adds an XHTML DOCTYPE to an XHTML document: `<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">` Or, if the XHTML document has a frameset: `<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">`
The root element of the document must be `html`, and the `html` element must designate the XHTML namespace.	Adds the `namespace` attribute to the `html` element, as follows: `<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">`
A standard document must have the `head`, `title`, and `body` structural elements. A frameset document must have the `head`, `title`, and `frameset` structural elements.	In a standard document, includes the `head`, `title`, and `body` elements. In a frameset document, includes the `head`, `title`, and `frameset` elements.
All elements in the document must nest properly: `<p>This is a <i>bad example.</p></i><p>This is a <i>good example.</i></p>`	Generates correctly nested code and, when cleaning up XHTML, corrects nesting in code that was not generated by Dreamweaver.
All element and attribute names must be lowercase.	Forces HTML element and attribute names to be lowercase in the XHTML code that it generates and when cleaning up XHTML, regardless of your tag and attribute case preferences.
Every element must have a closing tag, unless it is declared in the DTD as EMPTY.	Inserts closing tags in the code that it generates, and when cleaning up XHTML.
Empty elements must have a closing tag, or the opening tag must end with `/>`. For example, `<br>` is not valid; the correct form is `<br></br>` or `<br/>`. Following are the empty elements: `area`, `base`, `basefont`, `br`, `col`, `frame`, `hr`, `img`, `input`, `isindex`, `link`, `meta`, and `param`. And for backwards-compatibility with browsers that are not XML-enabled, there must be a space before the `/>` (for example, `<br />`, not `<br/>`).	Inserts empty elements with a space before the closing slash in empty tags in the code that it generates, and when cleaning up XHTML.
Attributes can’t be minimized; for example, `<td nowrap>` is not valid; the correct form is `<td nowrap="nowrap">`. This affects the following attributes: `checked`, `compact`, `declare`, `defer`, `disabled`, `ismap`, `multiple`, `noresize`, `noshade`, `nowrap`, `readonly`, and `selected`.	Inserts full attribute-value pairs in the code that it generates, and when cleaning up XHTML. Note: If an HTML browser does not support HTML 4, it might fail to interpret these Boolean attributes when they appear in their full form.
All attribute values must be surrounded by quotation marks.	Places quotation marks around attribute values in the code that it generates, and when cleaning up XHTML.
The following elements must have an `id` attribute as well as a `name` attribute: `a`, `applet`, `form`, `frame`, `iframe`, `img`, and `map`. For example, `<a name="intro">Introduction</a>` is not valid; the correct form is `<a id="intro">Introduction</a>` or `<a id="section1" name="intro"> Introduction</a>`.	Sets the `name` and `id` attributes to the same value, whenever the `name` attribute is set by a Property inspector, in the code that Dreamweaver generates, and when cleaning up XHTML.
For attributes with values of an enumerated type, the values must be lowercase. An enumerated type value is a value from a specified list of allowed values; for example, the `align` attribute has the following allowed values: `center`, `justify`, `left`, and `right`.	Forces enumerated type values to be lowercase in the code that it generates, and when cleaning up XHTML.
All script and style elements must have a `type` attribute. (The `type` attribute of the `script` element has been required since HTML 4, when the `language` attribute was deprecated.)	Sets the `type` and `language` attributes in `script` elements, and the `type` attribute in `style` elements, in the code that it generates and when cleaning up XHTML.
All `img` and `area` elements must have an `alt` attribute.	Sets these attributes in the code that it generates and, when cleaning up XHTML, reports missing `alt` attributes.

About the XHTML code generated by Dreamweaver

About the XHTML code generated by Dreamweaver

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