Basic questions and answers about XHTML

This article was translated for the Silicon Valley Power website in 2002. At that time, xhtml1.0 was first introduced by designers, so there is a basic Q & A below. The HTML language is a tool for us to build web pages. From its appearance to the present, the standards are constantly improved and the functions are getting stronger and stronger. However, there are still defects and deficiencies, and people are constantly improving it, making it easier to control and elastic, to adapt to the ever-changing application needs on the network. At the end of 2000, the World Wide Web Consortium released the XHTML 1.0 version. What is the difference between XHTML and HTML and XML? What new features does it add, today, let's have a preliminary look at XHTML.
XHTML 1.0 is a new language optimized and improved based on HTML 4.0. It is designed to be based on XML applications. XHTML is an enhanced HTML. Its scalability and flexibility will adapt to more network applications in the future. Below are common basic questions about XHTML answered by Steven pemberton, W3C HTML working group chairman.
Q: What is XHTML?
A: XHTML is a type of HTML modified to adapt to XML. As XML becomes more and more a trend, the problem arises: if we have XML, do we still need HTML? In order to answer this question, we held a two-day working conference in San Francisco on April 9, May 1998. The Meeting concluded that: Yes. We still need to use HTML. Because a large number of people are used to using HTML as their design language, and millions of pages are already written in HTML.
Q: Why does XHTML 1.0 develop independently from HTML 4.0?
A: No. XHTML is exactly the re-organization of HTML 4.0. (specifically, it is HTML 4.01, which is a revised version of HTML 4.0, but it is released after XHTML 1.0 .) Their interpretation in XML may have some necessary differences, but on the other hand, they are still very similar. We can regard the work of XHTML as a continuation of HTML 4.0.
Q: How can I implement XML standards in XHTML 1.0?
A: XHTML is an XML application. It is defined in the xml dtd file format and runs on a system that supports XML. Thanks to the Namespaces feature of XML, browser manufacturers do not need to create new private tags (tags). They only need to include XML code snippets in XHTML code, or XML code contains XHTML code snippets.
Q: What are the main advantages of XHTML 1.0?
A: XML is the development trend of web, so people are eager to join the XML trend. With XHTML 1.0, you can design pages that are suitable for both XML systems and most HTML browsers as long as you observe some simple rules with caution. This means that you can design and use XML immediately without waiting for people to use browsers that support XML. This guidelines can smoothly transition the web to XML.
Another advantage of using XHTML is that it is very strict. The bad HTML on the current network is shocking. Early browsers accept private HTML tags. Therefore, after the page design is complete, people must use various browsers to check the page to see if it is compatible, there are often many inexplicable differences, and people have to modify the design to adapt to different browsers.