The difference between HTML and XHTML

HTML and XHTML are computer languages ​​used to develop web pages. It has simple syntax and is easy to understand. XHTML is an extension of HTML and combines the features of XML. It has a stricter syntax than HTML. Although XHTML is derived from HTML, there are considerable differences between the two.

What is HTML?

The full name of HTML is Hypertext Markup Language. It was developed by Tim Berners Lee in 1993. It is an extended form of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). HTML provides the foundation or skeleton for web development.

Hypertext is text that links one page to another through a hyperlink and is activated when clicked. Markup languages ​​are languages ​​that use tags to design web pages and make them look more attractive. Hypertext Markup Language is used to develop web pages from a basic level by connecting multiple pages.

All elements in html are defined through html tags. Tags are like keywords that help arrange elements in different formats. HTML is not a programming language.

Advantage

• This is very simple and can be easily understood by beginners

• HTML is supported by all browsers

• It can run on any operating system and is therefore platform independent

• It's free and available by default in Windows

• It is light weighted and loads faster

• Its syntax is easy to learn

• It can be easily integrated with CSS, JavaScript and other languages

Disadvantages

• It cannot generate dynamic output

• Even a simple webpage requires number of lines of code

• It doesn’t provide security

• Even there is an error in the syntax, it runs it. But we don’t get the desired output

• We cannot create a complete web page using HTML alone. It can only create basic web pages

What is XHTML?

XHTML stands for Extensible hypertext markup language. It was developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and released in the year 2000. It has the characteristics of both HTML and XML.

It is almost similar to HTML, but much stricter than HTML. The main reason for XHTML is that HTML is too lax in protecting its source code. XHTML is more flexible and can be easily converted to other formats.

Every XHTML document consists of three main parts. They are −

• DOCTYPE − Used to declare the type of document

• Head − Used to declare headers and other attributes

• Body − Part that consists of the actual content that a web page contains

Advantage

• It follows strict rules hence reducing errors

• It makes the code readable

• It provides more security, the source code is not easily accessible

• As it follows all the rules of XML, it is easy to convert to other formats

• All web applications are moving towards XML. Hence it is good to use XHTML than HTML as it has more scope in future

• Web pages created using this tool are portable. Its simplicity allows it to run on devices with smaller processors

Disadvantages

• Beginners find it difficult to learn

• Only few browsers support XHTML. Hence its practical use is limited

HTML vs XHTML

The following table highlights the major differences between HTML and XHTML −

at the beginning of each page must be mentioned at the top of every page

parameter	HTML	XHTML
Full form	HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language	XHTML stands for Extensible Hypertext Markup Language
Developed by	HTML was developed by Tim Berners Lee	XHTML was developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Release date	It was released in 1993	It was released in 2000
File format	It is of document type file format	It is saved in markup language file format
Extended from	HTML is extended from SGML (Standard General Markup Language)	It is extended from HTML and XML (Extensible markup language)
File extension	It has the file extensions - .html, .htm	It has extensions - .xhtml, .xht, .html, .htm, .xml
Case sensitivity	HTML is not case sensitive. It can be written in upper case or lowercase or a combination of both	XHTML is case sensitive. All the code should be in lower case
DOCTYPE	In HTML, there is no need to add	In XHTML,
Closing tag	In HTML, it is not mandatory to close the tags	In XHTML, closing all tags is mandatory
Attributes	While writing attributes in HTML, it is not necessary to mention them in double quotes Ex :-	Attribute value needs to be mentioned in quotes Ex :-
Nesting	No need for nested elements	In XHTML, elements should be nested properly in an order
Strictness	HTML is lenient compared to XHTML	XHTML strictly follows rules
Structure of code	Its code is not organized enough	It has more organized code
mistake	It can still run the code even if it contains errors	It strictly checks all errors
Analysis	Its source code can be accessed easily	It is somewhat difficult to access its source code
Safety	HTML is not safe enough	XHTML provides more security
Browser Compatibility	HTML is supported by all browsers	Only few browsers support XHTML
Complexity	It has simple syntax and can be understood easily	Beginners find it difficult to understand

in conclusion

The main goal of HTML and XHTML is to create web pages. XHTML is an extended version of HTML that follows more rules and is more strict than HTML. XHTML can be easily converted to other data formats.

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