W3C Tutorial

W3C XHTML Activities

XHTML is a stricter and cleaner version of HTML.

XHTML Tutorial

To learn more about XHTML, please read our XHTML tutorial.

XHTML Versions

XHTML 1.0

XHTML 1.0 became a W3C Recommendation 26. January 2000. 

XHTML 1.0 Revision

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

XHTML 1.1

XHTML 1.1 became a W3C Recommendation 31. May 2001. 

XHTML 1.1 Second Edition

XHTML 1.1 (SE) became a W3C Recommendation 23. November 2010. 

About XHTML

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 (like desktop PCs, mobile (wireless) devices, and mobile 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 was a reformulation of HTML 4.01 in XML.

XHTML 1.1 (Modular XHTML)

Small devices could not support all XHTML functions, therefore the specification was split into modules with limited functionality. Small devices could reduce their complexity by supporting only some of the modules.

XHTML 1.1 is a strict language. XHTML 1.1 is not backward compatible with HTML 4.01.

Modules in XHTML 1.1

• XHTML Basic - Designed for small devices and contains only the basic XHTML elements (like text structure, images, forms, tables, and object support)
• XHTML Events - With support for the DOM, event handlers can be attached to elements. To learn more about the DOM, please read our DOM tutorial
• XHTML Print - Designed for printing from mobile devices to low-cost printers that print from top-to-bottom and left-to-right with no printing buffer

XHTML 2.0

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

XForms

XForms is an XML application that represents the next generation of forms for the Web. XForms is intended to be integrated into other markup languages, such as XHTML, ODF or SVG

XLink

XLink is a language for creating and describing links in XML documents. XLink is similar to HTML links - but it is more powerful. To learn more about XLink, please read our XLink tutorial.

HLink

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

W3C HTML Specifications and Timeline

W3C Reference:

W3C HTML Home Page

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