If you are still using HTML in your web design, consider transferring it to XHTML as it is the wave of the future.
As new browsers are developed they will be using XHTML more and more because it is compatible with a wider range of devices.
What is XHTML?
XHTML is a combination of HTML and XML (Extensible Markup Language).
XHTML consists of all the elements in HTML 4.01 combined with the syntax of XML.
Benefits of Using XHTML in Web Design
1. Clean code
All XHTML tags must have closing tags and be nested correctly. This generates cleaner code.
2. Search engine spiders
Because XHTML documents have cleaner code they can more easily be spidered by the search engines.
3. Faster loading
Web pages that don’t contain errors and have clean code will load faster in all browsers.
4. Reduce bandwidth costs
Lean XHTML documents mean you will use less bandwidth and therefore reduce costs particularly if your web site has 1000s of pages.
5. Backward compatible
XHTML documents are backward compatible with older, non-XHTML compliant web browsers.
Instead of sloppy HTML tags, your pages will now contain XML tags that are always properly closed and nested correctly.
6. Increased interoperability.
Unlike old–style HTML pages, valid, well–formed XHTML documents can easily be “transported” to wireless devices, Braille readers and other specialized web environments.
7. Greater accessibility
Because XHTML pages follow strict rules and avoid non–standard markup, they are more accessible than HTML pages.
8. New developments
All new developments will be in XML (of which XHTML is an application).
9. Integration
XHTML has ability to cleanly integrate HTML with other XML applications.
10. CSS.
XHTML works in conjunction with CSS to create web pages that can easily be updated.
Conclusion:
By making the switch to XHTML for your future web designs, you will not only get into the habit of writing cleaner code, but if combined with CSS create designs that load faster and are more search engine friendly.
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