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XHTML is dead - Viva HTML5?

Written by Joshue O Connor Friday, 17 July 2009

Recently the W3C announced that the XHTML 2 working group will not be rechartered after its current charter expires at the end of 2009. This means that the work of the XHTML 2 group has ceased to be funded by the W3C and that if it is to continue it will no longer be under the imprimatur of the W3C. While many are making the claim that "XHTML is dead", and it sure makes for a catchy headline, the XHTML 2 working group chair - Steven Pemberton - takes a different view and outlines how the work will continue.

So what has the XHTML 2 WG group achieved?

The development of the XHTML specification has been a modular one, with various parts of it worked on and completed by dedicated groups with domain relevant expertise. The development of the HTML 5 specification has been criticised due to the fact it is being created primarily under the auspices on one person, who is an employee of Google, and it is fair to say may therefore wield a disproportionate amount of control over the direction the future of the web is taking.

Some of the modules that are in use today that came from the XHTML specification are:

XForms: work on this module led to the creation of a separate working group and XForms is used by the US government, many UK local government sites. XForms is a central part of ODF, the Open Document Format used in OpenOffice and is being used for myriad diverse applications.

XForms can do everything that HTML Forms can do, and then some. In particular XForms lets you:

• Check data values while the user is typing them in.
• Indicate that certain fields are required, and that the form cannot be submitted without them.
• Submit forms data as XML.
• Integrate with Web services, for instance by using SOAP and XML RPC.
• Submit the same form to different servers (for instance a search string to different search engines).
• Save and restore values to and from a file.
• Use the result of a submit as input to a further form.
• Get the initial data for a form from an external document.
• Calculate submitted values from other values.
• Constrain values in certain ways, such as requiring them to be in a certain range.
• Build 'shopping basket' and 'wizard' style forms without needing to resort to scripting.

If you want to learn more about XForms read this primer.

RDFa: This is the "Resource Description Framework in attributes" and is also widely being used extensively today by search engine giants Yahoo and Google as they index websites, using the parsed data to enhance the display of search results. It is also one to watch as its application and usage will increase.

For a primer on RDFa see Mark Bircher's two part article on 'A List Apart'.

Role: This module is actively supporting accessibility, in the form of the WAI-ARIA specification which allows the developer apply semantics to their widgets and user interfaces that enable users of Assistive Technology access sophisticated web applications using long established markup languages like HTML 4 or SVG, and therefore extend the descriptive capability of these languages for people with disabilities.

For more on WAI-ARIA see Gez Lemon's excellent introduction on the Dev Opera community resource website.

These are examples of things that came out of the XHTML WG that have gained traction and usage in the wild. Others are XML Events, for any XML language it is an improved way of catching click events and is used in SVG, as well as the Access Module which is used in Mobile applications.

XHTML is Dead - Viva HTML 5?

So in short, this turn of events is by way of increasing resources for HTML 5 and its development. Is this a good thing? I don't know, the current HTML 5 specification is effectively in the hands of one man and effectively, one vendor. This makes for a powerful arbiter in the development of this most useful language - which is the life blood of the internet. This is an inordinate amount of power for one organisation to have.

XHTML was a more modular affair and comparatively democratic. It has also achieved some tangible positive outputs (such as those mentioned above) and the working group should be commended for them.

HTML 5 has the promise of enhanced accessibility, richer semantics and an improved user experience but at the moment many of these promises don't seem any closer to being truly realised. Or some rich user interface features & functionality can already be achieved using existing markup up languages and new development techniques like adding WAI-ARIA role, state and properties. There is a sense of some being poorly engineered for accessibility, in particular when new elements like canvas, (a drawing API) have no hope of native accessiblity and can only provide a bolt on solution at best.

Some say that HTML 5 is a mess and others are still in a state of disbelief about the fate of XHTML.

If you care about the future of the web, get involved! The web at this moment is in a state of openness that it may not be in years to come so it is important to have your say and get involved. These are technologies that we not only use in our lives but in many ways have a greater role in also moulding and sculpting our own.