HTML vs. XHTML vs. CSS
I first looked at a website called W3 Schools which is a website I sometimes go to when I am needing some help with code or just trying to learn something new. They actually had an article called XHTML vs. HTML which explains that XHTML is actually very similar to the HTML 4.01 standard. If you are already planning on using the HTML 4.01 standard for your coding then there are only a few changes that need to be made to your code. The main differences in coding with XHTML are: your elements have to be properly nested, everything must be in lowercase, all elements must be closed (i.e. <a href =”www.wordpress.com”>wordpress</a>) and documents must have one root element, which I think means that they have to be within a parent element, typically it would be something like “<html>… entire document …</html>” where everything in between would be a sub-element. There are some additional differences which are documented by W3.org in this article.
Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, was developed to help clean up HTML code. Previous to CSS all visual formatting was written in the same markup language as the content which caused problems with messy code. CSS was developed to take over the layout role and separatethe code for content from the code for the page style. “Cascading” refers to a calculation of priorities by predefined rules so that the end result, the web page layout the viewer sees, is predictablefrom one browser to the next. CSS coding can be included in the <head> elements of HTML document itself, if it only refers to the style of that specific page, or in a separate CSSfile which is referenced in the HTML code, allowing the same style to be used for multiple pages. CSSZengardenshows examples of what can be done using CSS. By clicking on different stylings on the left side of the page you can change the layout of the page while the content remains the same.
CSS and other web standards are important for the usability and compatibility of the web. Without out web standards we would still only be able to view certain pages correctly using a certain browser. Webstandards.org is a coalition that ensure web standards are implemented globally. Using tests like the Acid3 test to ensure browser interoperability and working with the major software companies to encourage the use of web standards in their software releases. As future web designers we need to stay in-tune with these standards to ensure the maximum compatibilty of our web design projects.
