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HTML•HTML Foundations

HTML Versus XHTML

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HTML Versus XHTML

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Formula

XHTML is a stricter, more XML - based version of HTML.

What is XHTML?

XHTML stands for E X

tensible H yper T ext M arkup L anguage

Formula

XHTML is a stricter, more XML - based version of HTML

XHTML is HTML defined as an XML application

XHTML is supported by all major browsers

Why XHTML?

Formula

XML is a markup language where all documents must be marked up correctly (be "well - formed").

XHTML was developed to make HTML more extensible and flexible to work with other data formats (such as XML). In addition, browsers ignore errors in HTML pages, and try to display the website even if it has some errors in the markup. So XHTML comes with a much stricter error handling. If you want to study XML, please read our XML Tutorial.

The Most Important Differences from HTML

Formula

<!DOCTYPE > is mandatory
The xmlns attribute in < html > is mandatory
< html >, < head >, < title >, and < body > are mandatory

Elements must always be properly nested

Elements must always be closed

Elements must always be in lowercase

Attribute names must always be in lowercase

Attribute values must always be quoted

Attribute minimization is forbidden

XHTML - <!DOCTYPE ....> Is Mandatory

Formula

An XHTML document must have an XHTML <!DOCTYPE > declaration.
The < html >, < head >, < title >, and < body > elements must also be present, and the xmlns attribute in < html >

must specify the xml namespace for the document.

Example

Here is an XHTML document with a minimum of required tags: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"

Formula

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
< html xmlns ="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>

Formula

< title > Title of document </title >

</head> <body> some content here... </body> </html>

XHTML Elements Must be Properly Nested

In XHTML, elements must always be properly nested within each other, like this:

Correct:

Formula

< b >< i > Some text </i ></b >

Wrong:

Formula

< b >< i > Some text </b ></i >

XHTML Elements Must Always be Closed

In XHTML, elements must always be closed, like this:

Correct:

Formula

< p > This is a paragraph </p >
< p > This is another paragraph </p >

Wrong:

Formula

< p > This is a paragraph
< p > This is another paragraph

XHTML Empty Elements Must Always be Closed

In XHTML, empty elements must always be closed, like this:

Correct:

A break: <br /> A horizontal rule: <hr /> An image: <img src="happy.gif" alt="Happy face" />

Wrong:

A break: <br> A horizontal rule: <hr> An image: <img src="happy.gif" alt="Happy face">

XHTML Elements Must be in Lowercase

In XHTML, element names must always be in lowercase, like this:

Correct:

<body>

Formula

< p > This is a paragraph </p >

</body>

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