HTML5 Document
If you created a new web page in HTML5, your <head> tag might look like this:
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>HTML5 Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In this HTML5 Document example, we have have placed a <meta> tag and a <title> tag within the <head> tag. You should always see a <title> tag within the <head> tag.
HTML 4.01 Transitional Document
If you created a new web page in HTML 4.01 Transitional, your <head> tag might look like this:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>HTML 4.01 Transitional Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In this HTML 4.01 Transitional Document example, we have have placed a <meta> tag and a <title> tag within the <head> tag.
XHTML 1.0 Transitional Document
If you created a new web page in XHTML 1.0 Transitional, your <head> tag might look like this:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>XHTML 1.0 Transitional Example</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In this XHTML 1.0 Transitional Document example, we have have placed a <meta> tag and a <title> tag within the <head> tag.
XHTML 1.0 Strict Document
If you created a new web page in XHTML 1.0 Strict, your <head> tag might look like this:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>XHTML 1.0 Strict Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In this XHTML 1.0 Strict Document example, we have have placed a <meta> tag and a <title> tag within the <head> tag.
XHTML 1.1 Document
If you created a new web page in XHTML 1.1, your <head> tag might look like this:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>XHTML 1.1 Example by www.techonthenet.com</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
In this XHTML 1.1 Document example, we have have placed a <meta> tag and a <title> tag within the <head> tag.
Summary of HTML <head> tag
As you can see, regardless of the Document type that you choose to create, the <head> tag will contain very similar elements, the most basic being the <title> tag and <meta> tag.