HTML and XHTML – A Comparison

The dotcom era was ruled by HTML when web pages were designed using it. But the Web 2.0 age is different. It is time for XHTML now. XHTML is a powerful programming language that enables you to design mind-blowing web pages.

XHTML can be viewed as an enriched and upgraded HTML 4. Basically the attributes and the types of elements are the same for both the markup languages. But there are some basic differences in the features and in syntax. XHTML is empowered with certain programming features that allow you to enhance the quality of the web pages that you design.

XHTML lets you design search engine-optimized web pages by using Cascading Style Sheets or CSS. HTML, on the other hand, uses more of tables in place of CSS and as a result, search engine optimization is not enabled efficiently. Both have client side scripting dissimilarities.

There are certain features that are exclusive to XHTML or HTML. Considering XHTML, it has the CDATA feature that comes into play when you are out to design a web page with a lot of literal characters. The Processing Instructions (PIs) enable linking with CSS. You can also import attributes from the XML namespaces. XHTML allows you to incorporate the & apos, character entity in your program code. HTML on the other hand, has its own set of exclusive features. You can conceal the style and script elements by using SGML comments. You can use JavaScript to make some code run on the web page even while the document is not completely loaded. You can use the named character entity ‘&nbsp’ by using HTML. The usage of the .innerHTML attribute is also exclusive to JavaScript.

Many users ask whether they should use HTML or XHTML for designing their web pages. There is no hard and fast rule stating that you’ve got to use only one of these Internet programming codes for designing your web pages. One cannot be recommended over the other on a general basis. However, your choice should depend on the features and functionality that you desire for your web page. Even in the Web 2.0 era HTML is being used-especially the 4.01 version. Technically speaking there is no reason for preferring one over the other unless you want your web pages to have features that are enabled by the usage of XHTML.

Before opting for HTML or XHTML, you should know the advantages and disadvantages of using both the programming languages, thoroughly, before you opt for one of them. Preference of one programming language over the other also depends on the comfort level that the task of writing out program code using each of the markup languages offers. If you find that the HTML code appears simpler for you to write out the programs for your web page, you can prefer to use it in place of XHTML, otherwise you can always opt for XHTML. Many web programmers prefer to use XHTML syntax in comparison to HTML syntax.

Another difference is that XHTML is not recognized and accepted by many browsers, Microsoft Internet Explorer being a major one, whereas HTML is recognized and accepted by many of the web browsers currently in existence. Usually the XHTML coding is converted into the HTML format before being accepted by the browsers. However, there are many applications using XHTML too.

Tags: HTML, SEO, Web Design, XML