XHTML2 & XForms
I came across a wonderful document describing XHTML 2 and XForms at lunchtime today.
The document is entitled XHTML2 & XForms by Steven Pemberton of the W3 in Amsterdam.
It is simply a long list of little boxes, each one containing a highlighted phrase that asserts some good thing about upgrading to XHTML 2, followed by some text and/or images that back up that claim.
The document makes a very compelling case for XHTML 2 - XForms, XFrames, CSS. etc. The real argument it is making is this: dump HTML - and get the latest version of XHTML when it comes out. It makes sense.
When XHTML 2 comes out, and you want ammunition for the argument over why to adopt it - glean your points from this document.
Ultimately, plain, old HTML is a lame duck: he XHTML 1.1 standard has already been ratified by the W3 and adopted by major browsers like Firefox.
HTML documents all over the web not only suffer from myriad syntax errors, they are not even well formed. They are like mathematical expressions with parentheses and brackets that do not even match. What do they really mean, how should they be interpreted - let alone displayed?
The web is a world wide mess. There has probably never been a larger array of corrupted data file documents in the history of computers.
What XForms brings to XHTML data entry forms is what XHTML did for HTML. It introduces XML-based order and discipline. It spells out how CSS should work with data entry components in an XHTML page, making CSS even more powerful and relevant. It allows greater reuse and interoperability: XForms can be used in SVG documents as well as XHTML pages. It finally, at long last, brings MVC to web forms. And it does it on the client side, without the need for programming - simply by declaratively describing the constraints.
This is a great document. It does not look formal, official, or impressive if you just glance at it. But if you read it and actually look at the examples, it makes a really strong case for going forward to XHTML 2.
One last thing. XHTML 2 gets rid of all of the HTML forms elements. It replaces them with XForms.
This is a step forward. The data entry components are still there: they just get smarter. The browser itself gets to decide which ones to use in some cases too, since it better knows the limitations of the device is is running on than the web page designer or author does.
Basically, XForms takes the data entry components in a web page out of the hands of the graphic artist, and hands them to the programmer. The programmer is really the one responsible for the information technology - not the artist.
The age old problem of the web page designer breaking the programmer's Javascript, bootleg attributes on elements, and name elements - and the programmer trouncing the layout geometry of the designer's carefully laid out nested tables ....is going to go away. At last.
The document is entitled XHTML2 & XForms by Steven Pemberton of the W3 in Amsterdam.
It is simply a long list of little boxes, each one containing a highlighted phrase that asserts some good thing about upgrading to XHTML 2, followed by some text and/or images that back up that claim.
The document makes a very compelling case for XHTML 2 - XForms, XFrames, CSS. etc. The real argument it is making is this: dump HTML - and get the latest version of XHTML when it comes out. It makes sense.
When XHTML 2 comes out, and you want ammunition for the argument over why to adopt it - glean your points from this document.
Ultimately, plain, old HTML is a lame duck: he XHTML 1.1 standard has already been ratified by the W3 and adopted by major browsers like Firefox.
HTML documents all over the web not only suffer from myriad syntax errors, they are not even well formed. They are like mathematical expressions with parentheses and brackets that do not even match. What do they really mean, how should they be interpreted - let alone displayed?
The web is a world wide mess. There has probably never been a larger array of corrupted data file documents in the history of computers.
What XForms brings to XHTML data entry forms is what XHTML did for HTML. It introduces XML-based order and discipline. It spells out how CSS should work with data entry components in an XHTML page, making CSS even more powerful and relevant. It allows greater reuse and interoperability: XForms can be used in SVG documents as well as XHTML pages. It finally, at long last, brings MVC to web forms. And it does it on the client side, without the need for programming - simply by declaratively describing the constraints.
This is a great document. It does not look formal, official, or impressive if you just glance at it. But if you read it and actually look at the examples, it makes a really strong case for going forward to XHTML 2.
One last thing. XHTML 2 gets rid of all of the HTML forms elements. It replaces them with XForms.
This is a step forward. The data entry components are still there: they just get smarter. The browser itself gets to decide which ones to use in some cases too, since it better knows the limitations of the device is is running on than the web page designer or author does.
Basically, XForms takes the data entry components in a web page out of the hands of the graphic artist, and hands them to the programmer. The programmer is really the one responsible for the information technology - not the artist.
The age old problem of the web page designer breaking the programmer's Javascript, bootleg attributes on elements, and name elements - and the programmer trouncing the layout geometry of the designer's carefully laid out nested tables ....is going to go away. At last.
posted by John Collins | 12:18 PM
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