Best Markup for text/html

First published on 2006-07-25, updated on 2008-01-11.

XHTML sent as text/html can only do what HTML can. Since HTML uses less filesize, it wins.

Analysis

  1. An XHTML 1.0 DOCTYPE cannot cause browsers to use XML.
  2. A processing instruction cannot do that, either.
  3. XHTML 1.0 is limited to the elements and attributes of HTML 4.01.
  4. XHTML is not quite compatible with HTML:
    1. XHTML 1.0 Appendix C is not normative.
    2. XHTML 1.1 is just a Working Draft.
    3. How XHTML 1.1 Customizations work in text/html is undefined.
  5. XHTML Modularisation 1.1 permits legacy markup. It isn’t ‘more semantic’.
  6. HTML has good support and widespread use.
  7. HTML uses less filesize than the equivalent XHTML.
  8. HTML works well with CSS.

Recommendation

HTML provides the best markup for text/html resources.