Can I skip HTML?

[Guest yusri]

I am just starting to learn to be a web developer.I have read almost all of the tutorials regarding HTML and XHTML.But one confusion remains... since XHTML is the new recommended HTML by W3C then can I skip learning HTML then? Straight away learn XHTML... Is it possible? Your ideas really appreciated.

[Mimika]

well its not much in diffrence. this is just an exampelIn HTML some elements can be improperly nested within each other like this:

<b><i>This text is bold and italic</b></i>

In XHTML all elements must be properly nested within each other like this:

<b><i>This text is bold and italic</i></b>

XHTML must all be closed if you used tags like <br> then you have to change it to <br />here can you see what the diffrence are with more information *XHTML*with html the codes can be very messy like the exampel i copyd from the tutorials.xhtml makes sure that the code thouse not get nested within other codes and make it much easyer to read the code. and in that way save alittle time

[Pollux]

As Mimika says, there isn't much difference between them so shifting from one to the other isn't all that difficult. However learning HTML can teach you practices which are considered by XHTML to be bad. Since everything is shifting towards the XML way of thinking its probably not such a bad idea to start with XHTML so you don't have to unlearn those bad practices later. Obviously if you're going to be working with someone elses HTML you might need to learn what all the deprecated HTML tags do too so you can understand it, but better to work that way around I would say.

[Dale]

Its your choice it won't make much diffrence but by learning both HTML and XHTML then you will get the better advantage!

[Guest yusri]

Well thank you Mimika Pollux and Dale.Yes I did notice the syntax differences during tutorial readings. XHTML is more systematic for me.I'll go for XHTML straight away then. I am a newbie, want to start learning and I don't want to get involved with past HTML 'sins' Start fresh and clean.Thank you again.

[alzable]

I started learning HTML, because at that time, XHTML was not all that known (I think... ). So sadly, I have a few bad habbits that need to be changed. If you are choosing, do XHTML. By knowing XHTML, you are basicly learning very strict HTML. It will also mean you can easily do HTML if needed. You won't be able to easily make an XHTML page if you learn HTML though.alzable

[Guest yusri]

Thank you alzable.By the way I've just started learning PHP, MySQL and Apache also.Is there any compatibily problems so far between those three and XHTML? I guess it doesn't because XHTML is just a better HTML, right?

[Pollux]

Nope, no compatibility problems since they'll all sit on the server side and spew out the (X)HTML which is read by the client browser. The php will generate the XHTML but won't really be aware or even care, what it means, it is just text to php. The XHTML will get processed at the client, by which point no php will remain.

[alzable]

Yes, XHTML is the "new" HTML.