Future XHTML 2.0 of HTML

This series consists of two parts, Edddumbill analysis of different ways to implement HTML proposed by Web authors, browser developers, and standard bodies. This series will introduce the incremental approach described in the WHATWG specification and the aggressive, and radical approach to the XHTML proposed by the consortium. In addition, the author will briefly introduce the new richclientactivity of the consortium. This is the 2nd part of the series, and Edd is looking at the ongoing work of the Consortium to indicate the future of the Web tag.

In the previous installment of this series, I explained why you should improve HTML, including correcting past errors and adapting to the growing demands of Web pages and applications. I introduced Webhypertextapplicationtechnologyworkinggroup (WHATWG) In the creation of WebApplications1.0 and WebForms2.0 specifications, this is a loosely formed consortium of browser vendors.

This article describes the work of the World Wide Web Consortium (WWW) to build the next generation of XHTML specifications, and their response to the demand for "rich client" behavior represented by AJAX applications.

Four working groups in the consortium are building some particularly interesting norms:

HTML (now XHTML)

Xforms

Webapi

Webapplicationformat

Links to these specifications can be found in resources. This article focuses on the study of the HTML workgroup, but it is also necessary to discuss other specifications as a background, as these studies will create the future of the Web.

Xforms

XForms is the successor to the current HTML form presented by the consortium. They are designed to have richer functionality and pass their results as XML documents to the processing application. XForms is modular, so it can be used in any context, not just bundled into XML. The main differences between XForms and HTML forms are:

XForms separates the user interface representations from the data model definition.

XForms can create and consume XML documents.

XForms is device neutral. For example, you can use the same form in a voice browser and a desktop browser.

XForms allows you to validate and constrain input before committing.

XForms does not use scripting to implement a multi-stage form.

Because it is a modular language, XHTML2.0 introduces the XForms module to implement form functionality.

Webapi

The W3CWEBAPI Workgroup is responsible for developing standard APIs for client Web application development. The first and most commonly used API is the XMLHttpRequest function of the core of Ajax (also a technology described by WHATWG). Programmers can use these APIs in any language supported by ECMAScript and other browser environments.

Other APIs that may be developed include:

API for working with browser window objects

Domlevel3eventsandxpath specification

Time Event API

APIs for non-HTTP networking, such as XMPP or SIP

Client Persistence Storage API

Drag-and-drop APIs

Monitor the downloaded API

API for updating files

While these APIs may not necessarily be implemented along with XHTML2.0, in the next four years, browsers are likely to combine two aspects to provide a rich platform for Web applications.

Webapplicationformat

XHTML2.0 is part of the Web application user interface problem, but not all. Mozillaxul and Microsoftxaml These technologies have provided a rich XML glossary for the user interface.

The Webapplicationformat Workgroup is responsible for developing declarative personalities for the specified user interface in a XUL or XAML fashion, as well as for XBL2 development, a declarative language that provides bindings between custom tags and existing technologies. In fact, XBL2 provides a way for programmers to write new Web application parts.