Introduction
XHTML is a standard for
representing the structure and content of a web page. Its
predecessor HTML not only represented the content and structure, but also included
aspects such as the presentation of the information on the screen. However, attempting
to change the design and presentation of the information using XHTML is now frowned
upon and all page styling should now be done using a technique/standard called Cascading
Style Sheets (CSS)
This change of emphasis is a mixed blessing. It makes creation of page content very
straightforward, and simplifies the XHTML data file, however, to make the page look
'cool' requires a lot of effort using CSS. This introduction to XHTML will only
deal with the basic XHTML elements for coding the structure and content of a web
page. CSS will be dealt with in a later tutorial.
Reference to 'high end' web creation tools, such as Dreamweaver and
Expression Web, is avoided. The emphasis is on understanding the
mechanics of web page creation, and tools such as NoteTab Light, which
only provide a code based view, are preferred for this tutorial. If
you want to work with a more advanced tool, try to work in code or
source view at all times.
Stop Press!
HTML5 is on the horizon. With syntax for both HTML and XML, HTML5 will
eventually become the language for web pages. However, the information presented
in this tutorial will continue to work and the concepts, such as accessible page
structure, will continue to be important. The latest versions of web browsers
now support HTML5 but you must be wary of building sites just using it as it is
still not completely standardised, not all end users have the latest versions of
browsers and some features will break accessibility guidelines until assistive
technologies catch up.
Watch out for developer notes on HTML5 development and the issues for browser
compatibility and accessibility.