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Differences Between XHTML And HTML

You can prepare yourself for XHTML by starting to write strict HTML.

How To Get Ready For XHTML

XHTML is not very different from the HTML 4.01 standard.

So, bringing your code up to the 4.01 standard is a good start. Our complete HTML 4.01 reference can help you with that.

In addition, you should start NOW to write your HTML code in lowercase letters, and NEVER skip ending tags (like </p>).

Happy coding!

The Most Important Differences:

XHTML elements must be properly nested
XHTML elements must always be closed
XHTML elements must be in lowercase
XHTML documents must have one root element

XHTML Elements Must Be Properly Nested

In HTML, some elements can be improperly nested within each other, like this:

<b><i>This text is bold and italic</b></i>

In XHTML, all elements must be properly nested within each other, like this:

<b><i>This text is bold and italic</i></b>

Note: A common mistake with nested lists, is to forget that the inside list must be within <li> and </li> tags.

This is wrong:

<ul>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea
    <ul>
      <li>Black tea</li>
      <li>Green tea</li>
    </ul>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ul>

This is correct:

<ul>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea
    <ul>
      <li>Black tea</li>
      <li>Green tea</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ul>

Notice that we have inserted a </li> tag after the </ul> tag in the "correct" code example.

XHTML Elements Must Always Be Closed

Non-empty elements must have an end tag.

This is wrong:

<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is another paragraph

This is correct:

<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>

Empty Elements Must Also Be Closed

Empty elements must either have an end tag or the start tag must end with />.

This is wrong:

A break: <br>
A horizontal rule: <hr>
An image: <img src="happy.gif" alt="Happy face">

This is correct:

A break: <br />
A horizontal rule: <hr />
An image: <img src="happy.gif" alt="Happy face" />

XHTML Elements Must Be In Lower Case

The XHTML specification defines that the tag names and attributes need to be lower case.

This is wrong:

<BODY>
<P>This is a paragraph</P>
</BODY>

This is correct:

<body>
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
</body>

XHTML Documents Must Have One Root Element

All XHTML elements must be nested within the <html> root element. All other elements can have sub (children) elements. Sub elements must be in pairs and correctly nested within their parent element. The basic document structure is:

<html>
<head> ... </head>
<body> ... </body>
</html>