What's the future of the web? XHTML 2, HTML 5, or something else?

Question

I'm confused by the discussion and advancement both of a new version of HTML and a new version of XHTML. Are they competitors? If so, what is likeliest to be the adopted future of the web? If not, what is the differing non-competing purpose for each?

Are we due to have a BluRay/HDVD battle here? Is there ultimately any clear decision? I fear a future where browsers pick and choose among the easiest and/or flashiest features of each to implement, leaving web developers trying to sort out the lowest common denominator for any new web app.

Answer 1

HTML 5 is meant for web applications whereas XHTML2 is meant for documents. From the HTML 5 working draft:

XHTML2 defines a new HTML vocabulary with better features for hyperlinks, multimedia content, annotating document edits, rich metadata, declarative interactive forms, and describing the semantics of human literary works such as poems and scientific papers.

However, it lacks elements to express the semantics of many of the non-document types of content often seen on the Web. For instance, forum sites, auction sites, search engines, online shops, and the like, do not fit the document metaphor well, and are not covered by XHTML2.

[HTML5] aims to extend HTML so that it is also suitable in these contexts.

XHTML2 and [HTML5] use different namespaces and therefore can both be implemented in the same XML processor.

Answer 2

XHTML2 and HTML5 are competing standards, they both purport to be the next iteration of HTML.

It is pretty clear that HTML5 is going to win, since it has support by the browser vendors.

Answer 3

XHTML2 is effectively dead. Since w3c(HTMLWG) accepted WHATWG's proposal the work has stopped on XHTML2 (even before that, since the last working draft for xhtml2 is from 2006).

Answer 4

In my opinion HTML5 will be the next dominant format. XHTML is just too unforgiving to be used in a web environment (you can't have the page fail on every small error...).

HTML5 is shaping up to be quite the treat for web developers - a formal spec for the CANVAS element, native drag-and-drop API, an offline storage API, server notifications API (push model), a formal content editing API and much more. If they can deliver even half of what they are proposing to, it will be a major advancement for web applications.

Answer 5

From what I was able to find in a quick google search, I would suggest that these are indeed competing standards. Both are attempting to advance web technology but are following different paths to do so.

For a pretty thorough treatment of the matter you might look at these two links:

http://xhtml.com/en/future/x-html-5-versus-xhtml-2/

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/industry-news/setting-the-standards-html-5-vs-xhtml-2-002032.php

Answer 6

Ultimately it's whatever is supported by browser makers. HTML 5 is feature rich, but the final draft may be years off. There are inherent difficulties in implementing things like audio and video support in 4(+) major rendering engines, and having them all behave the same way. Even validation would be a chore. Most browsers besides IE support the canvas element and SVG, but they still only represent about 25% of the market. With IE still commanding 75-80% of the market share, users who don't use or are oblivious to alternatives will be unable to use more advanced features, giving designers a tough decision.

IE8 is only finally implementing support which other browsers have had for users, meaning that the IE user base will always lag in compatibility. While HTML 5 is a nice idea, I think proprietary solutions such as Flash/AIR and Google Gears will continue to provide standardized support for the rich features HTML 5 provides. The biggest problem really is standardization - you have to design a website with the greatest percentage of users in mind as possible. There is hope, however. A Mozilla developer made a canvas plugin for IE - we could potentially see an open-source IE add-on that brings it up to a certain standard, that users could install much like Flash.

To Microsoft's credit they are being very open with IE8 and Windows 7 development (see their project blogs), so there is the possibility that more proactive IE development will accelerate adoption of HTML 5.

Answer 7

The W3C allowed the xhtml2 working group's charter to expire in 2009. Their resources were rolled into the html5 working group. The html5 spec contains a section entitled The XHTML Syntax.