W3C XHTML Activities

XHTML is a stricter and cleaner version of HTML.

XHTML Tutorial

To see how this Web Site was converted to XHTML, read our XHTML tutorial.

XHTML Versions

XHTML 1.0

XHTML 1.0 became a W3C Recommendation 20. January 2000. 

XHTML 1.0 Second Edition

XHTML 1.0 Second Edition became a W3C Recommendation 1. August 2002. The second edition was not a new version, but an update and a "bug-fix".

About XHTML 1.0

XHTML 1.0 was the first major change to HTML since 1997.

XHTML was an important step for creating a standard that provided richer web pages on a wider range of user agents (browsers), like desktop PCs, mobile (wireless) devices, and cell phones.

XHTML 1.0 reformulates HTML 4.01 in XML. XHTML 1.0 relies on HTML 4.01 for the meanings of the HTML tags.

W3C's next step included modularization of XHTML into smaller element collections, to make it easier to combine XHTML with other markup languages, like vector graphics or multimedia. 

Modularization of XHTML reduced development costs, improved cooperation with other applications (like databases), easier communication with different user agents, and cleaner integration between HTML and different XML standards.

W3C XHTML Activities

XHTML 1.0

XHTML 1.0 is a reformulation of HTML 4.01 in XML.

To learn more about XHTML visit our XHTML tutorial.

XHTML 1.1 (Modular XHTML)

Small devices cannot support all XHTML functions, therefore XHTML 1.1 divides the specification into modules with limited functionality.

Small browsers can reduce their complexity by supporting only selected modules.

XHTML 1.1 is a strict language. XHTML 1.1 is not backward compatible with HTML 4.

XHTML Basic

XHTML Basic is a small subset of XHTML 1.1. It contains only the basic XHTML features like text structure, images, forms, and tables. It is designed for small browsers (like in handheld devices).

XHTML Events

With support for the DOM in XHTML, event handlers can be attached to XHTML elements so that parent elements can handle events before and after child elements.

To learn more about the DOM, study our DOM tutorial.

XHTML-Print

XHTML-Print is a part of XHTML 1.1.

XHTML-Print is designed for mobile devices and low-cost printers that generally print from top to bottom of a page with no printing buffer and without a device-specific printer driver.

XForms

XForms are the successors of HTML forms. XForms provides a richer and presentation independent way of handling interactive Web transactions. Designed to be integrated with XHTML, we can expect that future e-commerce applications will demand the use of XForms.

To learn more about XForms, study our XForms tutorial.

XHTML 2.0

XHTML 2.0 is expected to remain similar to XHTML 1.1, but the markup language may be altered to conform to the requirements of  XML standards like XML Linking and XML Schema.

XLink

XLink is a language for creating hyperlinks in XML documents. XLink is similar to HTML links - but it is a lot more powerful.

You can learn more about XLink in our XLink tutorial.

HLink

HLink is an extension to XLink, and it specifies which attributes of elements represent hyperlinks in XHTML, and specifies how hyperlinks should be traversed.

W3C HTML Specifications and Timeline

W3C Reference:

W3C HTML Home Page

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