OpenIDThe Way Forward
Dave Shea: The Way Forward:
HTML will die. Today’s internet is obsolete, and anyone still coding in HTML 4 is planning the obsolescence of their own code. The big picture says that if, and this is a big if, but if we can move to an XML-based internet, then revisions to markup languages, existing and new, don’t require browser updates. Once we have user agents that fully support an eXtensible Markup Language, and the style sheets used to format it, then it doesn’t matter anymore if we lose the <cite> tag, or if <img> gets dropped. We create our own damn subsets that include them, and everyone else can use our subsets without downloading a new agent! Wouldn’t that have been convenient 5 years ago...
Read the rest of the post for more insightful thoughts on where XHTML is headed and why it makes sense to get stuck in to it as soon as possible.
In some ways I have to dissagree. HTML4.01 strict is pretty damn close to XHTML, and can be converted with a "minimum" of fuss.
In most cases the acutal data is not stored in the HTML. Pretty much all larger websites use a database driven design that can have the HTML changed without too many headaches. Only in smaller projects which wouldn't be hard to convert with a tool and a bit of work by hand. HTML4.01 works, XHTML1 still doesn't work completely properly and is hard. Unless you're working on a big project, an important project or one that requires longevity, HTML4.01 strict gets my vote.
On the other hand I'm not dissing XHTML, which is certainly a good idea if you're good enough :)
Swannie - 14th June 2003 16:13 - #