What is the difference between HTML and XHTML? One thing I found was that XHTML is a "cleaner version of HTML." What exactly does that mean and is there more to it than that?

If you have this at the top of your web page coding--

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

--can you use elements from HTML5 (which I haven't learned yet), XHTML, etc? Or do you have to change it to read differently? And exactly does that sentence mean, anyway? I understand part of it, but not all.

My son originally created my site a few years ago. I have been learning coding little by little, enough to make changes on my site that I've wanted to make, and plan on taking a class later this year for HTML5, CSS, etc.

Thanks!

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in Richmond, Virginia (16 years)
The Perfect Word Transcription Service

Hey Pam -

I can answer part of your question. The difference between HTML and (X)HTML is just the syntax used. (X) is for the extensible markup language, compared to HTML which is just known as markup language. In other words, it's just an upgrade and works better with various software. Just makes it more predictable to how its handled. Just know that there are enough differences between HTML & (X)HTML, because of how older browsers handle empty tags with (X)HTML, and perhaps other things that I'm not aware of. For instance...in (X)HTML, if we want to insert a break we would insert a single tag <br/>...but because older browsers don't know about (X)HTML we have to create the tag like this...<br />, because the older browsers don't pay attention to the space.

The doc type declaration is what tells browsers how they are to interpret the document. To get a better idea of what it all means try this link. Good resource - but not to be confused with the W3C itself...just as a side note. http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_doctype.asp

Also...to go to "the" source at W3C - Look here http://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/Doctype and scroll down to the middle of that page and click on the articles there.

Hope this helps a little. Sorry didn't have anything to offer about HTML5.

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Pam Blackman - On My Wings International
Integrated Virtual Business Management Solutions | Mentoring | Coaching

Thanks, Pam, for all the help!! I really like that w3schools site. I've used it before, but didn't think of it for this for some reason.

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in Richmond, Virginia (16 years)
The Perfect Word Transcription Service

You may also want to try w3.org. They have extensive information on web coding.

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Lee Drozak