XHTML

Did you know that the HTML is going to be replaced? Yes, it's being superseded by XHTML - a new standard which allows you to define your own tags, amongst other things. This book is designed to help you make the transition if you already have a web site.

It begins by explaining the relationship and differences between XHTML and HTML - and why this new set of standards is important for web developers. The reasons are that XHTML documents look the same on all platforms and browsers. The other reason is that HTML will not be developed any further. From now on it is replaced by XHTML 1.0. It also explains how to convert existing HTML to XHTML documents.



It is aimed at web developers and anyone interested in current Web-content creation and delivery. I think Chealsea Valentine and Chris Minnick manage to explain the importance of these new developments and how to implement them more clearly than any of the other books I've seen on this subject. They also explain how to work with XHTML web development tools such as Mozquito and HTML-Kit as well as working with style sheets.

Once you have converted your documents to XHTML, you can begin to take advantage of extensible stylesheet language (XSL) and XSL Transformations ( XSLT). The later parts of the book deals with showing how to incorporate these latest developments - including forms, scripts, graphics, and multimedia.

The most interesting new possibilities to me are the new linking techniques. Links which work in two directions and links which have multiple destinations, for instance. They also cover XLink, XPointer, and XPath [it does look as if we are in for X-everything, doesn't it].

Extensive appendices offer the complete XHTML recommendation from the W3C [that's the governing body of the Web]; a catalogue of all XHTML elements and attributes [what goes in the tags]; style sheet properties; and a huge list of XHTML resources. There's also a CD which contains ready-to-use examples and free versions of software.

A few more illustrative screenshots might have been useful, but this is a handsome, well-written book which offers a comprehensive explanation of why we all need to be upgrading our skills - to be ready for the Next Big Thing.