XHTML 2.0 != bad2002.08.23

Big wet thunk! on the head this week to ZDNet for reporting with technical inaccuracy and scare tactics: New XHTML carries a language barrier.

“Of primary concern to some Web developers is the W3C's warning that XHTML 2.0 will not be "backward compatible" with HTML 4.0 and XHTML 1.0. That alert has raised concern that billions of existing Web pages risk obsolescence unless they are translated to the new Web language.”

You know, I'd expect this kind of foolishness from a non-tech news source like CNN or the New York Times. But when you read a tech resource, you expect them to do their homework. And any damn fool knows that XHTML 2.0 has nothing to do with making pages obsolete. Browser makers will continue to support backwards standards until kingdom come, if the current state of browser software is any indication. You can still read pages written back in '95 (I know; I still have some of my very first web pages) in any modern browser. All XHTML 2.0 means is that the newer version of the language itself won't support old tags; if you want to write in XHTML 2.0, you're going to have to give up your attachment to tags like <img> and <br>.

Another tremendous quote which nearly deserves its very own thunk on the head: “Some time is bound to pass, however, before developers and authoring tools adjust to the shift from artsy HTML to its strict successor.”

Since when is artsy the opposite of strict? For that matter, since when is HTML artsy?

This is the problem. Tech news puts out stories like this, which is read by fledgling HTML jockeys or ones who have never heard of standards-compliant markup, which in turn makes them chalk XHTML and other new standards up to elitist crap for programmers and other heavy-duty geeks.

Don't get me wrong. I am an elitist geek. :) But I also know from personal experience that marking pages up to standards means less work for me, not more. It means I can change the design of my site in an hour or two rather than days and weeks.

Also today: a new Brain Lint called The Ritual of Death. Truly horrifying consumerized memorial pap. Just remember you saw it here first.

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