What's the need for XHTML?

Question

In an interview I was asked a question that I\'d never thought about, which was \"We already have HTML which fulfills all the requirements of writing a web page, so what\'s

Answer 1

Why was XHTML created?

• HTML is not very extensible. XHTML aimed to fix this by introducing namespaces so that languages such as MathML or SVG could be included inline.
• XMl is much simpler to parse than SGML (the format used by HTML before version 5)
• Due to an overwhelming number of websites with errors, browsers attempted to correct incorrect markup. New browsers have had to attempt to correct it in the same way. XHTML tries to increase standards by specifying that only structurally correct code will display.

How well has it succeeded?

• XHTML is widely spread, but almost always served with the text/html MIME type due to incompatibilities with Internet Explorer (up to version 8). Many of these pages would actually break if served as XML. So none of the three advantages above have really materialised.
• Many people chose to use XHTML as they thought it would provide better future compatibility. Work has stopped on XHTML2.0 and while HTML5 will have an XHTML serialisation, this seems to be receiving minimal attention. XHTML provides no future compatibility advantages for the forseeable future. Mozilla and Safari recommend using just HTML.
• HTML with a strict DTD already has a much cleaner format. HTML5 will take this further by removing the transitional DTD, removing unnecessary elements and defining a standard way for parsing documents with a degree of backwards compatibility. Browsers will still correct errors for the HTML serialisation, rather than forcing the markup to be fixed, but at least they will do it in the same way. Those who care about correct code will use validators anyway.

What is the need for XHTML?

XHTML had laudable goals and maybe it will be able to deliver in the future. I can't recommend XHTML for the possible future advantages it might provide, when HTML is much easier now. You should only really use XHTML if previous code or your tools force you to.