Google has rolled out a new service for web developers looking to get a better understanding of open web tools like HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Doctype, as the new service is known, is one part reference encyclopedia and one part tutorial collection drawing on documentation from Google’s own developers.

Doctype is a wiki, open to edits from users and focuses exclusively on open web languages. Topics covered range from tutorials on avoiding cross-site scripting to best practices for cross-browser CSS issues.

One thing you won’t find is a whole lot hand-holding for beginners, which fits with the motto: “written by web developers, for web developers.” Most of the topics covered assume at least a basic knowledge of subjects like the DOM, JavaScript events or CSS styling.

Also part of the Doctype announcement is the availability of a new JavaScript library — some 8,000 lines of code — originally developed and tested internally at Google. Again though, beginners might be a bit lost doing a Subversion checkout to get the library.

Doctype is a wiki, so all you need to edit it is a Google account. Your contributions are allegedly covered by a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, but the bottom of every page still carries a “© 2008 Google” notice, making it a little unclear as to which license is the correct one.

Still if you’re an intermediate to advanced web developer looking to hone your skills or try out Google’s new JavaScript library, Doctype is a great new resource.

For some background and an introduction, check out the video below: