XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) is a web
coding standard that combines the flexibility of XML
(Extensible Markup Language) with the structure and
presentation of HTML. XHTML is essentially a stricter
version of HTML and is designed to ensure that web
pages are both well-formed and compatible across
browsers.
### Key Features of XHTML:
1. **Well-formed Structure**: Unlike HTML,
which is more lenient, XHTML requires that all
tags must be properly nested and closed. For
example, every `<img>` tag must include a
closing slash (`<img />`), and all elements must
be properly closed (`<p></p>` instead of just
`<p>`).
2. **XML Syntax**: XHTML uses XML syntax
rules, meaning that all tags must be lowercase,
and attribute values must be quoted.
3. **Doctype Declaration**: XHTML documents
must include a DOCTYPE declaration to specify
the version of XHTML being used. For example:
```html
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD
XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-
strict.dtd">
```
4. **Elements and Attributes**: In XHTML, all
elements and attributes must be well-formed,
which means no missing or mismatched tags.
Additionally, attributes must always be quoted.
5. **Strict Parsing**: Browsers are expected to
strictly adhere to the rules when rendering
XHTML, meaning that any error in the
document structure can result in the page not
displaying correctly.
### Basic Structure of an XHTML Document:
Here is a simple example of an XHTML
document:
```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML
1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-
strict.dtd">
<html
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<title>XHTML Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to XHTML</h1>
<p>This is a simple XHTML document.</p>
<img src="example.jpg" alt="Example Image"
/>
</body>
</html>
```
### XHTML vs. HTML:
- **Strictness**: XHTML enforces a stricter
syntax than HTML. For example, in XHTML, you
must close all tags and use lowercase for tags
and attributes.
- **Compatibility**: HTML is more lenient and
can be parsed by browsers even with missing or
incorrectly nested tags, whereas XHTML
requires that the document be perfectly
structured to avoid errors.
- **XML-based**: XHTML is based on XML, so it
is more extensible and can be used with other
XML tools and technologies, such as XSLT
(Extensible Stylesheet Language
Transformations).
### Advantages of XHTML:
- **Consistency**: Enforces well-formedness,
which leads to fewer rendering issues across
different browsers.
- **Compatibility with XML Tools**: Being XML-
based, it can be integrated with other XML-
based technologies for tasks like
transformation or data exchange.
### Disadvantages of XHTML:
- **Strict Parsing**: Browsers that do not
support XHTML may fail to display content
correctly. However, modern browsers are
generally good at handling XHTML.
- **Error-prone**: The strictness of XHTML can
make it more difficult for developers, especially
beginners, to write error-free code.
### Usage:
While XHTML was popular for a period
(especially in the early 2000s), it has largely
been superseded by HTML5. HTML5 is more
flexible and backward-compatible with older
versions of HTML, making it the preferred
choice for most modern web development.
Still, XHTML is sometimes used in specialized
contexts where XML-based processing is
required. However, for general web
development, HTML5 is now the standard.
