by Lachlan Hunt

The discussion of XHTML versus HTML has popped up again, and until now I've managed to resist the urge to throw in my 2¢. Well, no longer will I sit on the side line while the same arguments get rehashed again and again, which will not get us anywhere. In this article, which I originally published in my blog, I'll attempt to answer this question: does the future of the Internet lie with HTML or XHTML?

Firstly, I'm just going to set a few ground rules. This is not going to be another version of XHTML as text/html is considered harmful or there are no real benefits to use XHTML or an XHTML isn't even supported kind of article. I'm going to get straight to the facts, so here goes...

HTML

HTML is all but dead. It's been getting beaten to death ever since the early versions of Netscape and IE. It's been on life support and holding on by a thread (albeit a particularly strong, yet very much frayed, thread) ever since IE5/Mac threw it a lifeline called DOCTYPE sniffing. Yet no attempt to revive it has been, or will ever be, successful in prolonging its life more than a few years past its use-by-date and it is almost time to let it rest in peace.