XHTML – Kicking And Screaming Into
The Future
SOFTWARE
XHTML, the standard, was first released back in 2000. Roughly five years later we begin to see
major websites revised to use this standard. Even the favorite whipping boy of standards-
compliance punditry, Microsoft, presents their primary homepages, msn.com and microsoft.com
in XHTML. Standards compliant XHTML sites are still the minority. The reason is simple. When
the W3C released the new standard, the rest of the web running on HTML did not cease to
function. Nor will the rest of the web, written in various flavors of HTML, cease to function any
time soon. Without any pressing need to conform to the new standard, designers continue to
use old, familiar methods. These methods will perform in any modern browser, so why bother
switching?
These sentiments are similar to ones I experienced. A kind of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”
mentality sets in. Whether HTML was “broken” or not is a different argument. To the casual
Internet user, their standards are fairly direct. If a site displays without noticeable error and
functions to their satisfaction, these standards are met. Whatever additional steps the browser
took to make such display possible is irrelevant to most users. This kind of mentality is difficult
to overcome in designers accustomed to their old methods.
Technical obstacles to adopting XHTML may be quite steep as well, especially as regards large,
existing websites with complex scripting. Yet the time may eventually come where yesterday’s
“tried and true” HTML is little more than an ancient language, unable to be interpreted by
modern electronic devices. Whether one agrees with the direction the W3C takes in the
development of HTML is irrelevant, you are just along for the ride. With some perseverance,
getting the hang of XHTML is possible. In form, it is not as different from HTML as Japanese is
from English. Knowing HTML grants a basic knowledge of the language, it simply becomes a
matter of learning a particular dialect. Even an original nay-sayer such as myself managed to do
it.
The Future
SOFTWARE
XHTML, the standard, was first released back in 2000. Roughly five years later we begin to see
major websites revised to use this standard. Even the favorite whipping boy of standards-
compliance punditry, Microsoft, presents their primary homepages, msn.com and microsoft.com
in XHTML. Standards compliant XHTML sites are still the minority. The reason is simple. When
the W3C released the new standard, the rest of the web running on HTML did not cease to
function. Nor will the rest of the web, written in various flavors of HTML, cease to function any
time soon. Without any pressing need to conform to the new standard, designers continue to
use old, familiar methods. These methods will perform in any modern browser, so why bother
switching?
These sentiments are similar to ones I experienced. A kind of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”
mentality sets in. Whether HTML was “broken” or not is a different argument. To the casual
Internet user, their standards are fairly direct. If a site displays without noticeable error and
functions to their satisfaction, these standards are met. Whatever additional steps the browser
took to make such display possible is irrelevant to most users. This kind of mentality is difficult
to overcome in designers accustomed to their old methods.
Technical obstacles to adopting XHTML may be quite steep as well, especially as regards large,
existing websites with complex scripting. Yet the time may eventually come where yesterday’s
“tried and true” HTML is little more than an ancient language, unable to be interpreted by
modern electronic devices. Whether one agrees with the direction the W3C takes in the
development of HTML is irrelevant, you are just along for the ride. With some perseverance,
getting the hang of XHTML is possible. In form, it is not as different from HTML as Japanese is
from English. Knowing HTML grants a basic knowledge of the language, it simply becomes a
matter of learning a particular dialect. Even an original nay-sayer such as myself managed to do
it.
