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Date Posted: March 31, 09:57:am GMT-5
Author: Professor Squack Allot
Subject: XHTML tutorial-for them as cant get enuff revision....

Moving Up From HTML: XHTML

On January 26th, 2000, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced
the new standards for HTML. Surprisingly, it didn't go from HTML 4.0
to 5.0, but was the introduction to the XHTML 1.0. XHTML stands for
eXtensible HyperText Markup Language and is meant to be the
replacement for HTML. Although it is defined as an XML application,
it is almost identical to HTML 4.01.

What's wrong with the present HTML to warrant a change? Why did the
keepers of the 'Net decide on XHTML instead of new tags for an HTML
5.0 version?

Designers often write HTML code in a sloppy fashion. Web browsers are
supposed to be very forgiving when rendering a page. In other words,
they still try to display the page even if some tags are nested
incorrectly or missing. This has led the browser developers to add
extra code to the browser engine so that the pages still come out
looking as they are supposed to look. However, all this code makes the
browser a pretty big application, often between 15-18+ megs.

Now this might be fine for your PC with all the hard drive space you
may have. However, small devices such as PDAs, cell phones,
automobiles, refrigerators, etc., cannot hold such a big browser.
Therefore, in order to be able to surf the web (and see your web site)
with one of these devices, we need a small browser. In order to make
the browser smaller the code must be less. That's where XHTML comes
in. It forces website designers to create clean code by strictly
enforcing what will be displayed and what will not. However, do not be
put off by this because writing clean code will allow your pages to be
seen by hundreds of thousands of people who use these small devices to
surf the 'Net. The United States does not have nearly as many people
surfing the 'Net with cell phones and handhelds as Europe. I was
watching a news report on TV about the subject and they spoke about
the huge percentage of young people who are using these small devices
in ICELAND!! They said that the reason the United States was behind
Europe in surfing the 'Net with handhelds is because of the
deregulation of Ma Bell, which fragmented the infrastructure of the
phone system. This has not been the case in most of Europe;
therefore, they are much more advanced in this endeavor than the
United States. It is estimated that by the year 2002 as much as 75% of
Internet access will be viewed by these devices. This prediction may
or may not come true, but even at 30%-40%, that's still a hell of a
lot of people.

Another reason that XHTML was introduced is because it allows builders3.) Moving Up From HTML: XHTML

On January 26th, 2000, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced
the new standards for HTML. Surprisingly, it didn't go from HTML 4.0
to 5.0, but was the introduction to the XHTML 1.0. XHTML stands for
eXtensible HyperText Markup Language and is meant to be the
replacement for HTML. Although it is defined as an XML application,
it is almost identical to HTML 4.01.

What's wrong with the present HTML to warrant a change? Why did the
keepers of the 'Net decide on XHTML instead of new tags for an HTML
5.0 version?

Designers often write HTML code in a sloppy fashion. Web browsers are
supposed to be very forgiving when rendering a page. In other words,
they still try to display the page even if some tags are nested
incorrectly or missing. This has led the browser developers to add
extra code to the browser engine so that the pages still come out
looking as they are supposed to look. However, all this code makes the
browser a pretty big application, often between 15-18+ megs.

Now this might be fine for your PC with all the hard drive space you
may have. However, small devices such as PDAs, cell phones,
automobiles, refrigerators, etc., cannot hold such a big browser.
Therefore, in order to be able to surf the web (and see your web site)
with one of these devices, we need a small browser. In order to make
the browser smaller the code must be less. That's where XHTML comes
in. It forces website designers to create clean code by strictly
enforcing what will be displayed and what will not. However, do not be
put off by this because writing clean code will allow your pages to be
seen by hundreds of thousands of people who use these small devices to
surf the 'Net. The United States does not have nearly as many people
surfing the 'Net with cell phones and handhelds as Europe. I was
watching a news report on TV about the subject and they spoke about
the huge percentage of young people who are using these small devices
in ICELAND!! They said that the reason the United States was behind
Europe in surfing the 'Net with handhelds is because of the
deregulation of Ma Bell, which fragmented the infrastructure of the
phone system. This has not been the case in most of Europe;
therefore, they are much more advanced in this endeavor than the
United States. It is estimated that by the year 2002 as much as 75% of
Internet access will be viewed by these devices. This prediction may
or may not come true, but even at 30%-40%, that's still a hell of a
lot of people.

Another reason that XHTML was introduced is because it allows builders
to get used to some of the facets of XML but still use most of the
HTML tags. Most people who have tried to work with XML understand its
potential and power. However, most people generally resist change, and
this is a good transition language. Additionally, while XHTML pages
can be viewed by today's browsers, most browsers cannot display XML.
Of the major browsers, IE has been able to display XML pages and the
latest version of Netscape 6.0 also has some built-in features to
handle XML.

Although these are not all the rules you must follow to createXHTML
documents, here are some of the major ones:

to get used to some of the facets of XML but still use most of the
HTML tags. Most people who have tried to work with XML understand its
potential and power. However, most people generally resist change, and
this is a good transition language. Additionally, while XHTML pages
can be viewed by today's browsers, most browsers cannot display XML.
Of the major browsers, IE has been able to display XML pages and the
latest version of Netscape 6.0 also has some built-in features to
handle XML.

Although these are not all the rules you must follow to createXHTML
documents, here are some of the major ones:

1) All tags must have a closing tag and be properly nested. Therefore,
even tags such as the paragraph tag

, which is normally used
singularly (without a closing tag) must now have one, i.e.

.

2) All the elements of the document must be in lowercase. Therefore,
the tag
or
tag would be incorrect but
would work.

3) All attribute values need to be in quotes. For example,
is wrong but
would be correct.

4) All image tags must have an attribute.

5) All