It is quite normal for computer users to ask what is XHTML and how is it used in web design when they hear of the term XHTML. XHTML is a standard mark up language that is used in creating web documents. This language came up shortly after the introduction of HTML 4. This mark up language is a mixture classic of hypertext mark up language and the extensible mark up language.

This language works and also looks similar to hypertext mark up language, but being based on extensible mark up language it has additional utilities. Websites that are created in XHTML are easy to navigate through. In fact, there are some new browsers that do not open blogs and web pages that are created using the older versions of hyper text mark up language.

However, web designers who have created their web pages using the old versions of HTML van have a sigh of relief because it is possible to convert the old pages to XHTML. The World Wide Web consortium has enabled this conversion simple and fast. However, it is advisable to create these pages from scratch rather than trying to formulate them in a new way.

This language is very simple especially for people who are familiar with HTML or other programming languages. It can only take a day or a few days to learn the new concepts. Before changing to the new mark up language, it is advisable to know what the results will look like and any other expected changes. One way that a designer can assist the designers to be able to predict the changes is by examining the new tools.

Creating a website from scratch is the easiest way of coming up with valid extensible hyper text mark up language pages. However, on most cases designers usually have the role of upgrading and redesigning already formulated pages. This gives the designers a chance to shift to the new XHTML.

The programmers who created the extensible hypertext mark up language have come up with a tool known as HTML tidy. This tool is free of charge, and its key role is to assist in quick conversion of hyper text mark up language into extensible hyper text mark up language. The HTML tidy can either be downloaded, or it can be used while it is still online.

This tool has a number of versions, there are some that can be downloaded on Linux, Unix, Mac OS and on windows platforms. Even though this tool is simple to use, it is important to read the instructions on the manual carefully. Basically what the designer is supposed to do is to copy the code that is in HTML format into the tidy platform and then click on the settings. There are many types of conversions, but for this particular case, the conversion is supposed to be from HTML to XML.

Validation is very crucial for a site to operate well. This process takes only a few minutes. A site can appear very different from how it is intended if it is not validated. However, this validation process validates the entire World Wide Web consortium XHTML and the cascading style sheets. Apart from the navigation of the site, the other advantage of validation is that it makes the site compatible with many browsers.

If there is any problem with browsers and the code is validated, these problems can be fixed in a very simple way. There are two rules that are normally embedded to the page header to fix the problem. The first rule is used to fix any error associated with the menu bar. The second rule fixes any problems with the layout that are as a result of the first rule. The browsers that normally have these problems are the Netscape 6 and Mozilla.

Websites that are created using extensible hypertext mark up language are inter operable, and they are extensible. They are also more expressive as compared to sites that have been created using hyper text mark up language. The designers must be cautious when writing this code because it is case sensitive. Lack of proper case is the largest error when it comes to writing the code.

The other common problem is abortion of document processing in case there is a parse error in XML. Since XHTML is case sensitive, the cascading style sheets should also be written in the proper case to avoid any errors. Content that require name spaces should also be created using XHTML because it normally results into many errors when it is created using HTML. This article has a number of answers to what is XHTML and how is it used in web design.

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