XHTML is in the spotlight.

December 23, 2000 8:50 AM

XHTML is in the spotlight. The specs were announced months ago, and on December 19th the w3 reccommended it as the new web language.
posted by tomorama (5 comments total)

There are lots of changes as noted by Matt back in January. The syntax is designed to be a rich content language while providing support for non-conforming clients like mobile thingamajigs.
posted by tomorama at 8:54 AM on December 23, 2000

There's a little confusion here. XHTML 1.0 became a recommendation back in January. It's the one that's basically an XML-ization of HTML 4, and as such, nothing earthshaking (though important). the real big deal is SHTML 1.1, which is the modularized version--with 1.1 you can implement subsets of XHTML for devices that are lack certain functionality--or fold in extra functionality via other DTDs or schemas. Modularization is already a reality to some extent, though it isn't projected to move to recommended status for a while yet.

What became a recommendation on the 19th was XHTML Basic, which is the first of the 1.1-based standard dialects of XHTML 1.1. In this case, it's a minimal dialect of XHTML aimed at thin clients (wireless, TV). It's, in some sense, the "core" of XHTML but it'snot the same as XHTML.

The next MAJOR milestone is XHTML 2.0, which noone who isn't on the committee even knows much about yet.

For clarification on the big XHTML picture you might start here.
posted by rodii at 3:01 PM on December 23, 2000

Uh, "SHTML" should be XHTML above, sorry.
posted by rodii at 4:41 PM on December 23, 2000

Whew, Rodii, you scared me for a minute.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 6:34 AM on December 25, 2000

Well, I assume you already know about SHTML. :)
posted by rodii at 9:14 PM on December 26, 2000