The future of HTML: WHATWG, HTML 5.0, and XHTML 2.0

[mandy]

2 part article examining the future direction of HTML

Part 1: WHATWG

WHATWG's figurehead specification is code-named HTML5, but is known more properly as Web Applications 1.0 (see Resources). HTML5 is intended to preserve backward compatibility with the current HTML standard, HTML 4.01, and also with XHTML 1.0, the XML version of HTML. The specification sustains both the HTML and XHTML strands of W3C HTML, although it notes that implementations may choose not to.

So what's inside HTML5? In short, a lot... Here's a 30,000-foot flyover of the new features:

    * New layout elements, including a calendar control, an address card, a flexible datagrid, gauges and progress meters, drag and drop, and menus
    * Programming extensions to the Document Object Model (DOM), including server-sent DOM events
    * A formalization of the de-facto standard XMLHttpRequest object, the centerpiece of Ajax communication
    * Dynamic bitmap graphics through the canvas element

You can see the heritage of many of these in features implemented as one-offs with JavaScript on the Web today. Indeed, the recent rise in popularity of Ajax toolkits has led to a proliferation of widgets such as gauges, calendars, and so on.

full article: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xm...-futhtml1/

Part 2: XHTML 2.0

Why XHTML 2.0?

The purpose of XHTML 1.0 was to transition HTML into an XML vocabulary. It introduced the constraints of XML syntax into HTML: case-sensitivity, compulsory quoted attribute values, and balanced tags. That done, XHTML 2.0 seeks to address the problems of HTML as a language for marking up Web pages.

In his presentation at the XTech 2005 conference in Amsterdam (see Resources), the W3C's Steven Pemberton expressed the design aims of XHTML 2.0:

    * Use XML as much as possible: Where a language feature already exists in XML, don't duplicate or reinvent it.
    * Structure over presentation: Thanks to CSS stylesheets, you no longer need explicitly presentational tags in HTML.
    * Make HTML easier to write: Remove some of the needless idiosyncrasies of HTML.
    * More accessibility, device independence: Make as few assumptions as possible about the way a document will be read.
    * Improved internationalization.
    * Better forms: Long overdue improvements are required!
    * Reduce the need for scripting: Include typical scripting usages in HTML itself.
    * Better semantics: Make it easier to integrate HTML with semantic Web applications.

full article: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xm...xw01XHTML2