What Is Xhtml What Is It And Why Use It?

wariorpk · November 1, 2005

I was wondering what XHTML is because I have seen alot of sites that claim to be XHTML validated rather than HTML validated. How does this compare to HTML? Why is it better? How hard is it to master? How similar is it to HTML? Thank you for answering my questions!

Notice from BuffaloHELP:

You should know by now that What Is...? section is not to post question. Moving. Warning issued.

Edited November 1, 2005 by BuffaloHELP (see edit history)

jlhaslip · November 2, 2005

Xhtml is very similar to html. The biggest differences in terms of using it are :

1) requires a different Document Tpe Declaration at the start of the file.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN""http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/;

2) all tags need to be closed. Even single tags use a "/" to close the tag.

<br />

3) all tags must be lower case.

<TITLE> is not acceptable, but <title> is.

4) less forgiving. It assumes nothing. In html, you can forget an end tag. Not in Xhtml.

There are other differences, but these are the main issues you will run into as you adapt to the differences...

For a more complete description, look
here at the w3schools web site.

Good luck with it.... it is easier than it looks if you already have an Html background.

ZeroHawk · November 2, 2005

If it's pretty much the same as html, but "less forgiving", than why would you use over html? What are it's extra capabilitis?

guangdian · November 2, 2005

xhtml is a development of html

now html version is : html 4.01 traditional
xhtml version is : xhtml 1.0 strict ( traditional)
xhtml 1.1 strict
and you will say why use xhtml instead of html?
by the developing of web design and internet browser.there be more and more code writing style by every browser.the web designer also got so freedomly to write the codes.so html 4.01 won't fit the process of browser update.
if internet explorer publised the new version support this code expression like


<marquee>some</marquee>

but netscape browser don't support the "marquee",they support


<blink>

but no other browser supported.
then there would got many problems of display.your web displayed this type in IE,displayed another type in Mozilla.it's really bad.
so the organization was built.the organization do the effort to perswade the microsoft and opera ,netscape browsers to support webstands,so the web designed based on web standards will displaed the same on any brosers.
----
xhtml is between xml and html. xml is a extensioned language that can be used on more programme.xhtml fits both html and xml.
xhtml is a webstandard language.the sites whose web page use xhtml and css layouts got more and more .the codes of them bacame short and simple than html.
----
i just searched for a manuall book about xhtml and css layouts.wish anyone know that would help me.
thank you very much.
best regards,
guangdian

Tyssen · November 2, 2005

If it's pretty much the same as html, but "less forgiving", than why would you use over html? What are it's extra capabilitis?

Taken from here:

XHTML is the W3C standard for developing cross browser compatible websites. It fuses all of the display elements of HTML with some of the functionality of XML. By forcing a web designer to program more carefully and adhere to strict code standards, XHTML successfully allows a vastly larger percentage of browsers or code parsers to properly parse your documents. In less geeky terms, it means more people can see your site the way you meant for them to see it, and less people see your site with elements strewn all over their page.
For your site to reach the widest potential audience, it is important that it is developed in the most cross browser compatible method possible. XHTML is that method.

FLaKes · November 2, 2005

Xhtml is like the evolution of html, its the next step for html. It stands for eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language. It is more strict than html, by this it means that certain elements were removed or changed. For instance, you can have to close every tag you make, even the br! , and you have to separate presentation from content (put presentation on a style sheet). In Xhtml you arent supposed to have a font property, color etc in each text, instead you define a tag and use it in all your text. This is supposed to be a standard that will be, or is, a cross browser solution for many navigators, and it comes in three flavors: strict, transitional and frameset.

uaktags · November 8, 2005

I still dont get it...can you show me sum code and what it does that HTML can NOT do. like how much more effect and better is XHTML to HTML?

Tyssen · November 8, 2005

like how much more effect and better is XHTML to HTML?

I hate when people don't read threads properly.

This was just two posts above yours and, in a nutshell, describes exactly why XHTML is better than HTML:

XHTML is the W3C standard for developing cross browser compatible websites. It fuses all of the display elements of HTML with some of the functionality of XML. By forcing a web designer to program more carefully and adhere to strict code standards, XHTML successfully allows a vastly larger percentage of browsers or code parsers to properly parse your documents. In less geeky terms, it means more people can see your site the way you meant for them to see it, and less people see your site with elements strewn all over their page.

For your site to reach the widest potential audience, it is important that it is developed in the most cross browser compatible method possible. XHTML is that method.

michaelper22 · November 9, 2005

XHTML is a combination of HTML tags and XML strictness. If you forget to close a tag, the page isn't valid. Empty tags must have a "/" bafore the ">". Atrributes must have a value; won't work, instead use .

Plenoptic · November 9, 2005

Well obviously you know what XHTML is now. If you want to learn how to use it or any coding languages go to http://w3schools.org//?gtnjs=1 It is a great site for learning to code. You can also learn here at the forums in this section or the tutorials. Many people here are experienced and can help you.

uaktags · November 9, 2005

ok...so all i see that it can do is make it more effiecently cross-browser.....and i see that its EXTREMELY strict with its code. but that means nothing, that doesn't tell me nothing special it can do other than allow more ppl to see my site without problems. Can it do nething else special. like allow ne better scripts that cant be used in normal HTML. Better manipulation and what not? or is it just HTML with Cross-browser enabled

Plenoptic · November 9, 2005

Sorry the url is w3schools.com If you go there you can learn everything there is about XHTML and how to use it.

XML is a markup language where everything has to be marked up correctly, which results in "well-formed" documents.
XML was designed to describe data and HTML was designed to display data.

Today's market consists of different browser technologies, some browsers run Internet on computers, and some browsers run Internet on mobile phones and hand helds. The last-mentioned do not have the resources or power to interpret a "bad" markup language.

Therefore - by combining HTML and XML, and their strengths, we got a markup language that is useful now and in the future - XHTML.

XHTML pages can be read by all XML enabled devices AND while waiting for the rest of the world to upgrade to XML supported browsers, XHTML gives you the opportunity to write "well-formed" documents now, that work in all browsers and that are backward browser compatible !!!

There is the information to show the basic info about XHTML

alzapiedi · November 30, 2005

its more strict for example in html if you want bold and italic text you could type text here but in xhtml youd have to typetext hereall the tags need to be properly nested. i dont really know all of xhtml but the main thing is its more strict

Lozbo · November 30, 2005

I'll have to ask an apologee from all other members about this, but truth is that i have found out that XHTML is NOT THAT GREAT RIGHT NOW. Besides cross browser compatibility in an actual market composed of 95% of IE users (stats from google analytics, in a university portal which makes an average of 8000 visits a day, on week days that is, it goes down on weekends), there is no other overwhelming reason to change... Dont get me wrong! I am actually coding each and every of my latest works and projects in strict xhtml 1.0, and im proud to tell that its valid code(except for the php send mail which requieres the transitional "name" atribute, in which i switched the doctype to transitional hehe ). I go for it, i support it and encourage other people to use it, and i state the same things you have said before in this thread.But when it comes to it, when some one ask something like this (what else?!) i have no answer but "Its the latest trend, its the biggest fashion and it looks cool and geeky and great, it validates on the w3c standards, its the mode, you are out if you dont use it".This is not my main reason to do it, but its also works for encouraging ourselves to do so.. am i wrong? would some one tellme that has never done so?I'd like to get this point clear, the future is coming and firefox is coming for IE. Standars are begging to rise again like the fiery phoenix from the ashes of what it first was meant to be the html and world wide web, according to Tim Berners Lee. So sooner or later everybody (like it or not) will just have to switch, or be left off the market in the first place (what advantajes can a web developer offer against that who uses "International Standard Code endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium, the non-comercial organisation which dedicates to the development of web technologies to further increase its usability among users and platforms"... astonishing huh?) and later it will just have gone...There are several products that make your life easier, some commercial and some free. Im not much into the free ones but im sure anyone here can post a few links. Besides is not that hard, and it really helps the community. Its the web 2.0 attitude. It also really makes a lot easier to count in people with disabilities. There are programs that literally read the screen for blind people. Blind at all, so the program reads it for them. And they are not too far away, if you use win xp go to start -> run -> and type "narrator". There is also a very famous screen reader named "JAWS" which also does the trick. That's why people keeps telling you websites with tables layout are bad for them, becouse the screen reader reads text, but not images, and it reads it in the logical order that it finds the code, so if you see td's after td's the order wont be as logical as if you have just plain text, see what i mean? And well, the way xhtml helps actually helps those people, is by thinking with another kind of markup structure, like a microsoft word document, first the title, then the index or list of content, then the content and then the last notes about the document.So it shifts to: h1 for the title, immediately next, a menu with the site content, usually it has trend to be an unordered list (with lots of css to look more than just a list), then the paragraphs and all content of the site. Then the footer notes.It is just an example, a very simple one. But thats what is all about, to make web sites more accesible to everybody, and better sites that might be already accesible, lighter-weight, and easier to update.XHTML does not grants your site to be accesible, it depends in a lot of things, but its the mentaility. Like ajax, if you have heard of it, its not a technology in itself but a group of technologies and mentalities that astray into another.In short: its not that different from the old school html, but it lumps together lots of details that are becoming more and more important while designing for the whole globe, not just win/ie, or not just people without disabilities, or people with low speed connection, or people with a pc (we know people access the web in all sort of devices today, cellphones, pda's, different os platforms etc), or people with little time to spend in the site, or whatever. Its the "everybody-in" fashion now. Hope it helps ya out

Tyssen · December 2, 2005

I'll have to ask an apologee from all other members about this, but truth is that i have found out that XHTML is NOT THAT GREAT RIGHT NOW.

WTF? You're demanding an apology? What does anyone have to apologise for?

And if that weren't bad enough, you then summarise what everyone else has already written in this thread and end up not supporting your original statement.

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What Is Xhtml What Is It And Why Use It?

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