HTML, XHTML, DHTML, etc.
The building blocks of the World Wide Web are HTML, XHTML, DHTML, XML, CSS, etc. A clear understanding of how these building blocks fit together is key to a successful website implementation. The World Wide Web has evolved over the years and uses many technologies. At its roots it is the delivery of content to a browser for a user to view. The information that allows the browser to render the page to make it readable and interesting is a combination of markup languages.
HTML
- Stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.
- Is a series of small markup tags embedded in your content that tell the browser how to display your content.
- Files must have an .htm or .html extension.
XHTML
- Is a stricter, cleaner version of HTML.
- Stands for EXtensible HyperText Markup Language.
- Was intended to replace HTML.
- Is HTML defined as an XML application.
- Is a W3C Recommendation.
DHTML
- Stands for Dynamic Hyper Text Markup Language.
- Is not a W3C Standard.
- Was intended to make dynamic web sites.
- Requires the use of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
- Involves manipulation of the Document Object Model (DOM).
XML
- Stands for EXtensible Markup Language.
- Is a markup language much like HTML.
- Was designed to describe data.
- Is a W3C Recommendation.
Tags
- Not all of the markup tags are implemented in the same fashion across the different browsers.
- Use of newer tags may break your code in older browsers. Being aware of your audience’s browser mix is critical to the design and selection of tags to use.
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