The more I look into HTML coding the more it seems apparant that I should learn XHTML, I already know a small amount of HTML, a book that I have states that XHTML contains all the tags of HTML but adhere to much stricter rules and has additional tags and different methods of doing things. Surely rather than learning straight HTML i would be better learning XHTML as this is also teaching me to adhere to the latest web design rules

Any help or another opinion would be appreciated

Actually, you don't NEED XHTML, you can just go with HTML 4.01 STRICT and get the same strict rules. The 'additional tags' actually only come into play if you're rendering your XHTML as XML and not as text (which many say is an abberation).

With HTML 4.01 strict you still must close ALL tags; all code must be in lowercase; things like <center> <font> and the "target" attribute are NOT allowed (deprecated and should be done using CSS).

Yes and no. How's that for being definitive?

Both are essentially going to be the same for the most part. If you make sure to use lower case for your tags and remember to close them all you've pretty much got xhtml.

However if you then use an html doctype the page would be perfectly acceptable html. Recently the html 5 spec is making news without much talk about xhtml 2 so maybe in the not too distant future we'll be using html doctypes again to take advantage of it.

I might be confusing you more, but the main point is yes it's a good idea to learn the xhtml way. xhtml is really html that's compliant with xml. And really if you do make sure to use lower case and make sure to close all your tags you're pretty much writing xhtml.

Something that is worth noting, is that the ultimate goal of XHTML has failed, which was to comply with a future standard in which XML would supposedly be the standard for describing all data. This simply has not come about, and it doesn't look like it is going to happen at all.

XHTML is not bad, and I still use it, but it has failed in its intent.

Wow have to admit I`m struggling a little to grasp this so

XHTML - Strict form of HTML very similar to HTML 4.01

What situation would you use XHTML ? and what situation would you go for HTML 4.01 ? I think I`m struggling making the definition between the two

XML - What is this and what is it used for, does XHTML lead to XML ?

CSS - I get this, cascading style sheet code that formats the pages in a global fashion that integrates into HTML (put simply)

Thanks for the interest in my questions guys and girls its really helping me !!

The point is, it doesn't matter if you use XHTML or HTML. Neither really has an advantage, except that XHTML is a bit stricter in its transitional DOCTYPE than HTML 4.01.

I use XHTML, but the only reason is I am accustomed to self closing tags /> because that is how I learned. Also, I can't stand capitalized tags, they hurt my eyes. By using XHTML I am minimizing the possibility that other coders will capitalize tags on my pages.

XML is an all purpose markup language that may be used to describe any sort of data. XML writes its own rules, known as a schema. In fact XHTML is a schema of XML. It is HTML described in XML.

Ok thanks for clearing that up for me, XHTML it is !! Then CSS next, I feel like I may not be seeing daylight for a while !!

Thought I'd ech what Abel said. There really isn't one or the other that's better. I prefer the xhmtl way of coding anyway so I do, but that same code will still be valid html. html is a little more forgiving is all. If you use all lower case and make sure to close all tags, you're pretty much coding xhtml.

html 5 is probably going to be the new standard in the not too distant future too.

css isn't too hard to get the basics down. The hardest part will probably be using it for the layout of a site and understanding cross browser differences. We're here though for any questions you might have along the way.

I found a pretty good comparison article:
http://www.evotech.net/blog/2007/06/...al-deprecated/

Nice article. You know I forgot some of the differences because they've become habit. Things like making sure to use quotes around attributes and nesting tags.