Hi John, On 7/9/08, Asif Lodhi <asif.lodhi at gmail.com> wrote: > On 7/9/08, John Beardmore <John at t4sltd.co.uk> wrote: >> ................ but I'm being pushed towards xhtml. > > Using XHML + CSS, you get > > 1) Higher positions in search engine results when customers > search for the type of products that you sell. > 2) faster page loads as the page only contains simple/clean > XTHML with NO "HTML" presentational markup. > 3) even faster page loads if you define styles for all of your > pages in a single CSS file. That CSS gets loaded & cached > by the browser the first time any page of your website loads. > All subsequent page loads (other pages) do NOT result in > separate loading of CSS (presentation/styling) - ALL use the > same CSS already cached by the browser. > 4) XHTML is a step closer to XML which is better at defining the > semantics of the information that you wanna communicate > instead of the messed-up markup when you use HTML with > its presentational tags/attributes for styling (without CSS). > 5) Easier subsequent maintenance of your website as designers > only have to change a single style (CSS) file when they want > to modify/enhance the styling of your website. On the flip > side, > you are forced to change styling on EVERY single web page > when you use HTML with HTML presentational/styling (and not > CSS). > 6) Depending on how you structure your XTHML document (page), > you can also modify your web page WITHOUT incurring any > -ve impact on your CSS. That's the + of keeping things > separate.
Adding to my earlier reply, I would like to add that your website gets more standards compliant when you use standard XHTML and CSS. Even if some browsers don't currently support some CSS property/selector, they are bound to support the same in the near future in that standards have to be implemented to stay in the users' good books. HTML is also a standard - albeit obselete - but it does NOT give you the benefits that I mentioned earlier. Say, you have displayed your address in <H1> with lots of presentational tags (fonts, colors, etc.). So, when your browser reads all this stuff, it doesn't have a clue as to what it's actually reading. On the contrary, if you use the <Address> element and use CSS to style (fonts, colors, etc.) then your browser does have a chance of knowing that it's reading an "address". There are other aural properties that "allow" your browser to "read" (speak!) the page - good for those who don't want to read but listen ... -- Asif
