XHTML, the standard, was first released back in 2000. Roughly
five years later we begin to see major websites revised to use
this standard. Even the favorite whipping boy of
standards-compliance punditry, Microsoft, presents their primary
homepages, msn.com and microsoft.com in XHTML. Standards
compliant XHTML sites are still the minority. The reason is
simple. When the W3C released the new standard, the rest of the
web running on HTML did not cease to function. Nor will the rest
of the web, written in various flavors of HTML, cease to
function any time soon. Without any pressing need to conform to
the new standard, designers continue to use old, familiar
methods. These methods will perform in any modern browser, so
why bother switching?
These sentiments are similar to ones I experienced. A kind of
\”if it\’s not broke, don\’t fix it\” mentality sets in. Whether
HTML was \”broken\” or not is a different argument. To the casual
Internet user, their standards are fairly direct. If a site
displays without noticeable error and functions to their
satisfaction, these standards are met. Whatever additional steps
the browser took to make such display possible is irrelevant to
most users. This kind of mentality is difficult to overcome in
designers accustomed to their old methods.
Technical obstacles to adopting XHTML may be quite steep as
well, especially as regards large, existing websites with
complex scripting. Yet the time may eventually come where
yesterday\’s \”tried and true\” HTML is little more than an ancient
language, unable to be interpreted by modern electronic devices.
Whether one agrees with the direction the W3C takes in the
development of HTML is irrelevant, you are just along for the
ride. With some perseverance, getting the hang of XHTML is
possible. In form, it is not as different from HTML as Japanese
is from English. Knowing HTML grants a basic knowledge of the
language, it simply becomes a matter of learning a particular
dialect. Even an original nay-sayer such as myself managed to do
it.
Benefits of XHTML There are 2 primary benefits to using XHTML.
First is the strict nature of valid XHTML documents. \”Valid\”
documents contain no errors. Documents with no errors can be
parsed more easily by a browser. Though the time saved is,
admittedly, negligible from the human user\’s point of view,
there is a greater efficiency to the browser\’s performance. Most
modern browsers will function well in what\’s usually referred to
as \”quirks\” mode, where, in the absence of any on-page
information about the kind of HTML they are reading, present a
\”best guess\” rendering of a page. The quirks mode will also
forgive many errors in the HTML. Modern browsers installed on
your home computer have the luxury of size and power to deal
with these errors. When browser technology makes the leap to
other appliances it may not have the size and power to be so
forgiving. This is where the strict, valid documents demanded by
the XHTML standard become important.
The second benefit is in the code itself, which is cleaner and
more compact than common, \”table\” based layout in HTML. Though
XHTML retains table functionality, the standard makes clear
tables are not to be used for page layout or anything other than
displaying data in a tabular format. This is generally the
primary obstacle most designers have with moving to XHTML. The
manner in which many designers have come to rely on to layout
and organize their pages is now taboo. Simple visual inspection
of XHTML code reveals how light and efficient it is in
comparison to a table based HTML layout. XTHML makes use of
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which, when called externally,
remove virtually all styling information from the XHTML document
itself. This creates a document focused solely on content.
XHTML makes use of \”div\” tags to define content areas. How these
\”divisions\” are displayed is controlled by CSS. This is known as
CSS-P, or CSS Positioning. Trading in \”table\” tags for \”divs\”
can be tough. Learning a new way of accomplishing an already
familiar task is generally difficult. Like learning to use a
different design program or image editor, frustration can be
constant. Looking at \”divs\” as a kind of table cell might be
helpful, though they are not entirely equivalent. As required by
the XHTML standard, always make sure there is a DOCTYPE
definition at the top of the document. This is not only required
by the standard, but it will force Internet Explorer 6,
currently the most common browser, to enter its \”standards
compliance\” mode. IE6 and Firefox, both operating in standards
compliance mode will display XHTML in much the same way. Not
identical, but far better than IE6 operating in quirks mode.
Learning how to iron out the final differences between displays
is the final obstacle and can require a bit of tweaking in the
CSS.
Clean code has multiple benefits. It creates a smaller page size
which, over time, can save costs associated with transfer usage.
Though the size difference may appear small, for someone running
a highly trafficked site, even saving a few kilobytes of size
can make a big difference. Further, some believe search engines
may look more kindly on standards complaint pages. This is only
a theory, though. In a general sense, any page modification that
makes the content easier to reach and higher in the code is
considered wise. Search engines, so it is believed, prefer to
reach content quickly, and give greater weight to the first
content they encounter. Using XHTML and \”div\” layout allows
designers to accomplish this task more easily.
Conclusions XHTML is the current standard set by the W3C. The
W3C continues development of XHTML, and XHTML 2.0 will replace
the current standard in the future. Learning and using XHTML
today will help designers prepare for tomorrow. Valid XTHML
produces no errors that might slow down a browser, and the code
produced is clean and efficient. This saves in file size and
helps designers better accomplish their search engine
optimization goals. Learning XHTML is primarily about learning a
new way to lay out pages. Though frustrating at first, the long
term benefits far outweigh any initial inconvenience.
About the author:
Eric Lester worked in the IT industry for 5 years, acquiring
knowledge of hosting, website design, before serving for 4 years
as the webmaster for Apollo Hosting,
http://www.apollohosting.com. Apollo Hosting provides website
hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services
to a wide range of customers.