Navarr's Tech Side The Technical Side of my Life

3Jan/082

XHTML2 vs. HTML5

What the hell is up with this fanboy war?  The web design community has already started getting used to XHTML, but now the WHATWG group wants the continued update of HTML?  Isn't that a step backwards?

HTML was wild, unordered, and controlled by the browser vendors (at least from what I've seen), however, XHTML was started and controlled by the W3C group, making sure that it gets properly implemented, however, the WHATWG group doesn't like it.  They want to stay with their old fashioned <b> tags.

I admit, web designers from the 90s have gotten used to the old style HTML tags, and its still what they're teaching in school, but that is no reason to stay with it.  Technology changes over time, this is the same for any tech profession, the data will change, and then you'll have to learn something new.  This isn't just the case for tech jobs, but jobs that use computers.  Microsoft publishes a new Operating System, your company updates, and you need to re-learn it.

XHTML1 supports backwards compatibility with HTML for the old authors who are still getting used to it, and so that browsers can still render old code, XHTML2 doesn't, but all browsers should properly implement both.  But by creating HTML5 and "XHTML5", WHATWG is requiring browser vendors to include yet another set of standards into browsers in order to properly display the internet.

Personally, I have yet to find a website that uses HTML5.  Most websites have already started using XHTML, and so I truly believe that implementing a new version of HTML is a step backwards.

If the WHATWG group wants to continue their efforts (like their wonderful work with Web Forms 2.0), I think their best bet would be to join the W3C's work with CSS and XML Events, and XForms, don't you?  If the two worked together, instead of fighting about such silly things, then maybe standards could be developed a lot faster, after all, the W3C does seem to be taking a long time to update and recommend standards.  Lets get things done faster, I want to start using XHTML2 and CSS3 already :-p

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
  • The Buzz Saw
    I completely agree with this. Once I began researching XHTML2 and CSS3 in great detail, I wanted them both very badly. I do not understand why the current browser industry is so fickle when it comes to implementing standards. Is it REALLY that difficult to implement? Shouldn't having a concrete specifications document make it easy to design and test?


    Also, I agree on the HTML5 issue. Why is that system being updated? Let XHTML shine! We do not want to promote the old way of web programming!
  • Hixie
    Actually the HTML5 spec doesn't take a position on HTML vs XHTML, the WHATWG HTML5 spec extends both at the same time and so leaves the choice of which to use up to the Web author.


    You say that XHTML was started and controlled by the W3C group, making sure it gets properly implemented, but in fact XHTML1 was only implemented by Apple, Opera and Mozilla, the same companies that initially started the WHATWG, and XHTML2 was not implemented by anyone, and some of the browser vendors have even said they'll likely never implement it, so it's not clear that the W3C actually are making sure it's getting implemented.



    With HTML5, I (as the editor) am talking to the browser vendors on a regular basis to make sure that they will implement it, and am making sure that it isn't wild and unordered.



    We're also making very sure that HTML5 is just a backwards-compatible extension to HTML, so that browsers don't have to implement yet another set of standards, as you put it. In fact, we're defining the legacy HTML in HTML5 in extreme detail so that new browser vendors can write new browsers without having to reverse-engineer the other browsers (in the past, the specs were very incomplete and it was basically impossible to write a new browser without referring to the other ones).



    Web Forms 2.0 is a part of HTML5. We actually started HTML5, starting with Web Forms 2, specifically because we didn't think XForms, XML Events, and XHTML2 were going to be improving the Web.



    However, we actually are working with the W3C now. There's an HTML5 working group in the W3C that is chartered to work with the WHATWG.



    If you would like to take part in this work, please do feel free to do so. You need but join the whatwg@whatwg.org mailing list, which you can find at: http://whatwg.org/mailing-list#specs



    If you have any feedback and don't want to join the list you can also just e-mail me directly at: ian@hixie.ch



    We do want your feedback!
blog comments powered by Disqus
« The Purpose of CSS in the Semantic Web First Post »

Calendar

January 2008
S M T W T F S
    Feb »
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Archive

Twitter

Sponsored



Meta