Note the “integration of different technologies.” Um...when will these appear?

“Switching from HTML 4.01 to XHTML 1.0 brings almost no direct benefits for the visitors of your Web site…2”

“XML syntax rules are far more rigorous than HTML. As a result, XHTML makes authors work more precisely, having to address issues such as:

• all elements and attribute names must appear in lower case,
• all attribute values must be quoted
• non-Empty Elements require a closing tag
• empty elements are terminated using a space and a trailing slash
• no attribute minimization is allowed
• in strict XHTML, all inline elements must be contained in a block element.3”

Note: All of this can be accomplished in HTML 4.01 with the exception, and benefit, of not having to worry about closing empty elements nor requiring trailing slashes.

“Yes, HTML 4.01 is as valuable as XHTML 1.0 in a daily usage.4”

So, if for your own personal purposes you wish to learn to make a valid XML document while using familiar syntax as HTML, or if you want to integrate your web page with unspecified different technologies you may want to learn XHTML, but it offers no more value to HTML in daily usage. Not a compelling reason to switch, especially considering the extra trailing slashes.

If you already have XML documents and want to turn them into web pages you can use XSLT. Well if you are not reformatting XML documents, there again is no benefit over HTML.

Now the down side. XHTML isn’t even treated as XHTML in some browsers. IE 8 will be the first version of Internet Explorer that supports it all. XHTML came out in 2000 and we are just getting browser support by some vendors in 2009? To be honest, XHTML has been such a non-starter that concerned parties wishing to advance the state of web development have pushed W3C into drafting HTML 5. Gecko and Webkit based browsers already offer support for some HTML 5 features but no browser vendor is implementing XHTML 2.0 features. Neither HTML 5 nor XHTML 2.0 have been ratified as official W3C recommendations, but it is pretty clear which direction the major players are moving.

“HTML 4.01 kinda makes more sense for most regular web designers / web sites.5”
“HTML5 will be the future of the web, so my advice would be to pay close attention to it.6” (2006)

So for nearly 10 years web developers have had to struggle with the decision about the benefits of switching to XHTML and many, many of the newer developers have been forced to drink the kool-aid as the Universities seem to want only to teach the latest and greatest (in their opinion) so as to not seem out of step with modern practices.

Yet, here we are staring directly at HTML 5, (check Google’s current DOCTYPE). Now all the XHTML 1.1 sites will need to be re-written in HTML 5 to embrace real practical improvements in web development, or face being stuck with 10 year old limitations.

HTML 5 brings the important points recommended by XHTML;

• all elements and attribute names must appear in lower case,
• all attribute values must be quoted,
• no attribute minimization is allowed,
• in strict HTML 5, all inline elements must be contained in a block element;

without unnecessary baggage and offers real world improvements in what web pages will be able to do.

Glad I haven’t switched to XHTML.

Others who have stuck it out or are ambivalent:

http://www.htmlforums.com/socialbee/node/49 (great set of links pro and con from 2006)
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200601/html_or_xhtml_does_it_really_matter/
 

1The Web Standards Project: http://www.webstandards.org/learn/articles/askw3c/oct2003/
2The Web Standards Project: http://www.webstandards.org/learn/articles/askw3c/oct2003/
3The Web Standards Project: http://www.webstandards.org/learn/articles/askw3c/oct2003/
4XHTML 1.1 or HTML 4.01? (10-20-2008): http://css-tricks.com/xhtml-11-or-html-401/
5XHTML 1.1 or HTML 4.01? (10-20-2008): http://css-tricks.com/xhtml-11-or-html-401/
6HTML 5 vs. XHTML 2: An Article Roundup and Poll (5-19-2008): http://css-tricks.com/html-5-vs-xhtml-2-an-article-roundup-and-poll/