HTML | XHTML |
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I'm certainly glad to have the opportunity to persuade you to stick with me: HTML 4.01. I'm going to be around a long time, have no worries there. | HTML, face it, you're yesterday's news. The standards guys have already moved on. I'm the future. Anyone with their head on straight should be moving to XHTML. |
There's really just not enough difference between you and me for people to really care. I mean, 4.01 is exactly the same as XHTML 1.0. | How can you say we're the same? You're HTML; I'm XML. |
And right now, that and a quarter won't even get you a cup of coffee. | Ah, but just wait. The number of devices that read XHTML is increasing every day. And there are a lot of applications out there that are gearing up to use XHTML. |
That's the problem: you think everyone wants to have applications using XHTML, or that everyone is creating Web sites for mobile devices. Some people just wanna make good Web sites. Why are you asking them to go through all this pain? | Well that's just it there really is no pain. If you're already using HTML 4.01, then XHTML is just a hop, skip, and jump away. All you have to do is change your DOCTYPE, and add a couple of attributes to your <html> element. So, what's the big deal? Why not have the latest and greatest with just a few minutes work? |
You're forgetting a few of the downsides. A lot of browsers don't handle XHTML very well. In fact, they just see it as HTML. So you do all that work and then you're just fooling yourself that your XHTML is somehow different. | Hey, that's a good thing. The designers of XHTML knew that not all browsers would support XHTML, so they made it backwards compatible. In other words, you can move to XHTML today, and still have it all work even on older browsers. |
But what's the point? If your XHTML is just considered HTML by a browser, then it's just HTML! | Ah, but that's changing; more and more support for XHTML is arriving every day. So, I say, go ahead and change over. It's easy, and when the new browsers and devices get here, you'll be ready without even trying. |
This is all great, but I keep saying people just don't care. I'm already good enough for them. Lots of people have no need for XML. | You can't envision all the ways XHTML is going to be used in the future. XHTML is the way, and by moving to XHTML now, you'll be ready. |
Okay; let's say you're right, and XHTML is going to be the way of the future. Fine. But as you also said, XHTML is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. So, my users can just wait until XHTML gets here, and they can hop, skip, and jump then. | What's that saying? "You can't teach an old dog a new trick?" |
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