MSIE6 bug: <?xml...> as first line

MSIE6 has a bug. If you put this first
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
(as you must do in order to validate) MSIE6
defaults to quirks mode and will not observe
the <!DOCTYPE ...> command.
   This means (eg) you can't use high-ASCII
characters in your document (section-sign,
paragraph-sign, umlauts, and such) and
have to use their html codes instead
(the &#000; format), messy and troublesome
to spot in the text-editor (view-source).
   Question: Is it *absolutely* mandatory
that the <?xml...> be the first line (as
the validator asserts) or, instead, can the
validator be altered to permit this line
to follow the <!DOCTYPE...> line?

Received on Wednesday, 2 July 2003 09:54:05 UTC