As we move further into the age of Information
and Communications Technology, we certainly cannot expect
for things to stand still long enough. Expect technology
to be active, thriving, and fast-paced. Nothing is left
alone; everything would have to be upgraded into newer
and more innovative versions.
So it is vital for those who long to remain at the wheel
of ICT to be flexible and quick to adapt to changes
and improvements.Such is the reaction from web designers
and developers that should have met the onset of XHTML+CSS.
XHTML is the most recent version of HTML that conforms
with XML, and as the latest innovation in web design,
it is better suited for the present and paves the way
for future developments. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets,
on the other hand, is a stylesheet language designed
to separate the content and presentation of the website.
With the combined tools of XHTML and CSS, websites can
now be made more compliant, dynamic, and easier to design.
The only thing standing in the way of XHTML+CSS and
its move towards a better future of web design is the
problem of converting several years’ amount
of web pages designed in HTML. For any web designer,
the task of converting your websites and every single
page of them into XHTML sounds like a whole lot of work.
However, without a justifiable excuse, it is definitely
the better option to shift to XHTML+CSS for a variety
of reasons. When you choose to leave your site as it
is, first, make sure you are fully aware of the advantages
that you choose to bypass.
XHTML+CSS documents are easier to maintain and edit,
containing fewer tags and are less prone to problems.
This way, you have better control over your website
and you can easily pass on the control to another developer,
if need be. Raise the probability of your website working
in more browsers with the better code form that XHTML
provides. It also cleans up the clutter of HTML and
gets rid of numerous tables in your documents. The slimmer
pages make for faster downloading and viewing, the benefits
eventually passing on to the website users. XHTML+CSS
also welcome upgrade options and future developments
for your site. By converting to XHTML now, you will
be preparing your site for more upgrades and improvements
that are sure to come. Aside from these, since it is
relatively new, you can easily be one of the first to
embrace this new innovation.There are, however, understandable
constraints in converting your websites to XHTML+CSS
format. Aside from the overwhelming effort necessary
to convert old sites, some of the old web page editors
that are being used also do not handle this new format,
and the cost of upgrading may be considered a hindrance.
However, Jennifer Kyrnin, in her article Converting
Web Sites to XHTML+CSS, notes that buying modern web
page editors doesn’t have to be expensive,
and that there are actually some good editors that can
be obtained for free.</p><p>With the numerous
benefits of converting your websites to XHTML+CSS, there
certainly are ways to work around the constraints.
You may tidy up your website easily with HTML Tidy,
an open source tool that can do all the dirty work of
browsing through your pages. It can filter the valid
XHTML in your site, and all you have to do is redesign
it in CSS. In a matter of minutes, your XHTML+CSS site
can be up and running.</p><p>For web designers
and developers, as the forerunners of future web developments
and as innovators in yourselves, being up-to-date should
almost be second nature. And since your websites are
your portfolio, they should all the more be dynamic
and acquiescent to the future. With all the advantages
of XHTML+CSS, the effort to convert your websites would
definitely be worth it.
