Usability, Design, Doctype, HTML

Usability is an important aspect of web design. The whole purpose of designing a website is to create one that is user friendly.  As stated by Nathan Carnes, a burden is placed on the user to make a decision which often leads to a dismissal of their needs and wants.  Many users want a design that offers the correct functions as simply as possible.  When designing a website, user testing is critical. I can agree from personal experience that user testing needs to be as simple as possible.  If the information is too overwhelming testers may not be able to rely their experience because they mat not understand what they did or what was expected of them.

HTML and DOCTYPE work hand in hand.  DOCTYPE declares what kind of HTML is used in a document and is necessary for XHTML to function correctly.  Some programs will allow DOCTYPES to be changed around or removed so that they fit the configuration of the document better.