To see how this Web Site was converted to XHTML, read out our XHTML tutorial

XHTML 1.0 was released as the W3C Recommendation 20. January 2000

XHTML (or HTML, if you prefer it) code is really simple:

XHTML 1.0 was the first major change to the HTML since 1997, and a very important step on the way to create a standard that will provide richer web pages on a wider range of user agents (browsers), like desktop PCs, mobile (wireless) devices, and cell phones.

XHTML is an XML application with clean migration path from HTML 4.01. W3C's first step was to reformulate HTML 4.01 into XML, resulting in XHTML 1.0. XHTML 1.0 relies on HTML 4.01 for the meanings of HTML tags.

The next step include modularization of XHTML into smaller element collections, to make it easier to combine XHTML with other markup languages like vector graphics and multimedia. 

Modularization of XHTML also gives reduced development cost, improved cooperation with other applications (like databases), easier communication with different user agents (browsers), and cleaner integration between HTML and different XML standards.

To learn more about the XHTML visit our XHTML tutorial.

Small devices (like mobile devices) cannot support all the XHTML functions. XHTML 1.1 divides the specification into the modules with limited functionality. Small browsers can reduce their complexity by supporting only selected modules (but once a module has been chosen, all of its features must to be supported).

XHTML 1.1 is strict language. XHTML 1.1 is not backward compatible with the HTML 4.

XHTML Basic is small subset of XHTML 1.1. It contains only basic XHTML feature like text structure, images, basic forms, and basic tables. It is designed for the small browsers (like in handheld devices).

With the support for the W3C Document Object Model level 2 in XHTML, event handlers can be attached to the XHTML elements so that parent elements can handle events before and after child elements.

To learn more about DOM, study our DOM tutorial

XHTML-Print is a part of the XHTML 1.1 (Modular XHTML).

XHTML-Print is designed for the mobile devices and low-cost printers that generally print from top to bottom of a page with no printing buffer and without a device specific printer driver.

With the HTML forms, a user can visit a Web page, add information to the page, and submit the page to a Web server.

XForms are the successors to the HTML forms, providing a much richer and presentation independent way of handling interactive Web transactions. Designed to be integrated with the XHTML, we can expect that future e-commerce applications will demand the use of XForms.

To learn more about the XForms, study our XForms tutorial.

XHTML Modularization is about splitting the XHTML 1.0 into a collection of small modules that provide specific functionality.

Modularization of the XHTML 1.0 is implemented using the XML DTD (Document Type Definition)

Modularization of the XHTML 2.0 will be implemented using XML Schemas.

To learn more about the DTD, visit our DTD tutorial.

To learn more about the XML Schemas, visit our Schema tutorial.

XHTML 2.0 is a next generation markup language. The functionality is expected to remain similar to the XHTML 1.1, but the markup language may be altered to conform to the requirements of the XML standards like XML Linking and XML Schema.

XLink is a language for creating hyperlinks in the XML documents. XLink is similar to the HTML links - but it is a lot more powerful
XLink supports simple links (like HTML) and extended links (for linking multiple resources together).

You can learn more about XLink in our XLink tutorial.

HLink adds the ability to specify which attributes of elements represent hyperlinks in the XHTML, and specifies how hyperlinks should be traversed.

HLink is an extension to the XLink.