Incorporating XHTML

Part 1, an Overview

By Tyler Downer
2/9/08

XHTML, it has been branded the greatest web site related innovation of this century (besides XML)and from others, it hasn't garnered a word. Many still have questions about XHTML 8-9 years after it first was recommended, and many don't see the need of it. This 4 part series will attempt to educate you in the XHTML specification, why it is needed, and how to use it. Also, I will give you resources where you can go to find out more in depth information. Before we can have any grasp on XHTML, we need to know what it is. Note: If you don't have much of an understanding of what web sites are made of or what XHTML even is, please read our end-user introduction first, What is XHTML. Thank you.

The History and Purpose of XHTML

XHTML stands for eXtensible HyperText Markus Language. It is based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and applies XML(eXtensible Markup Language) formatting rules to the old version. XHTML was introduced to the world in 1999 by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). It's purpose is to provide a more regular and compliant platform for web sites than it's predecessor, HTML. HTML was developed before graphics capable browsers were around and was not meant to handle formatting instructions, like the <font> tag. As a result it had been retrofitted and hacked through the years to get the fancy web sites we see today. XHTML is meant to be a fresh start and keep it that way by providing stricter rules for web developers to follow. It provides cleaner, easier to understand markup, and when used with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) it offers greater control over design. XHTML can make a web site up to twice as fast by removing font tags and placing style in a separate Style Sheet document. That is what XHTML is most about.

Separating Form from Function

In a typical HTML web site, font tags, links, images, text, tables, etc. are a jumbled together. XHTML aims to take all formatting instructions and place them in a CSS document. This offers many benefits. First, it offers smaller pages that load much fast. The CSS document is only loaded once and reused after that. Second, removing style from the page makes it more machine friendly. Search bots, screen readers, etc. all have a hard time interpreting font tags, when they are gone, so is the problem. XHTML can raise your search engine rankings just because style is gone. Third, reducing the size of your pages can save money. If you cut your bandwidth usage, you cut the amount you pay for bandwidth. And there are many more reasons. But, I hope you see how useful XHTML can be for your web site. Next week, I will show you exactly what XHTML changes and how it does.

Go to Incorporating XHTML, Part 2

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