DOCBOOK-APPS: character encoding in html

I've just had the first sensible suggestion for 
clearing complaints I've had for months.

Problem.

Browser ie5.5 (not 5.01)

problem line
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">

I'm told (David LeBlanc) that the semicolon between
html and charset is causing the problem.

removing it clears the problem.

All my faq pages are so coded.
The problem moved with me from XT through to saxon.
(I'm using website btw).


I wonder if any others could confirm or deny that this is an issue?
e.g. my web pages at http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/index.html

I'm curious if it has any effect on netscape, especially since
I'm not using any special characters AFAIK.

TIA, DaveP