To be honest, I haven’t really used the standard HTML markup language since I was in high school (which was a long time ago). In every web design class I’ve taken both at BYU Idaho and at my previous educational institution, XHTML has been the method taught and implemented. So I have to start out by saying that my opinion may be a little biased because to me, HTML, just seems old school, and XHTML is what I know.
While perusing the internet for information about this huge debate, I ran across a website that listed several of the pros and cons of both XHTML2 and HTML5. XHTML 2 is based solely on XML, a technology that; according to one article; most believe will enable the Web to reach its full potential. XHTML 2 is driven by how markup should be used, rather than HTML 5, which is driven by how markup is currently used. The fact that XHTML is based on XML is also appealing to me because I enjoy modifying Xboxes. You might be asking yourself: where’s the correlation? Modified Xboxes run a stripped down version of Linux, and all configuration settings are stored in XML files. By learning XHTML, I have gained a better understanding of layout, and interpretation of the XML code, and it has also allowed me to do some pretty cool things with my old beat-up xbox.
I’m a big fan of CSS. In the research I’ve done between these two competing architectures, I also have to side with XHTML 2 for being more compatible with CSS. XHTML 2 relies more upon CSS for look and layout of the web page, while HTML 5 still supports the font element. Lame. One of the coolest new features of XHTML 2 is the navigation link element (nl). I often create lists to use as my navigation menu. It will be a lot cooler when you can have a separate section in a CSS file for styling normal lists and navigation lists. In short, I like to stick with what I know, so XHTML 2 gets my vote.
