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This section is informative.
XHTML 2 is a general purpose markup language designed for representing documents for a wide range of purposes across the World Wide Web. To this end it does not attempt to be all things to all
people, supplying every possible markup idiom, but to supply a generally useful set of elements, with the possibility of extension using the span
and div
elements in
combination with stylesheets.
Because earlier versions of HTML were special-purpose languages, it was necessary to ensure a level of backwards compatibility with new versions so that new documents would still be usable in older browsers. However, thanks to XML and stylesheets, such strict element-wise backwards compatibility is no longer necessary, since an XML-based browser, of which at the time of writing means more than 95% of browsers in use, can process new markup languages without having to be updated. Much of XHTML2 works already in existing browsers. Much, but not all: just as when forms and tables were added to HTML, and people had to wait for new version of browsers before being able to use the new facilities, some parts of XHTML2, such as XForms and XML Events, still require user agents that understand that functionality.
The original version of HTML was designed to represent the structure of a document, not its presentation. Even though presentation-oriented elements were later added to the language by browser manufacturers, HTML is at heart a document structuring language. XHTML2 takes HTML back to these roots, by removing all presentation elements, and subordinating all presentation to stylesheets. This gives greater flexibility, and more powerful presentation possibilities, since CSS can do more than the presentational elements of HTML ever did.
In designing XHTML, a number of design aims were kept in mind to help direct the design. These included:
XHTML 2 is a member of the XHTML Family of markup languages. It is an XHTML Host Language as defined in XHTML Modularization. As such, it is made up of a set of XHTML Modules that together describe the elements and attributes of the language, and their content model. XHTML 2 updates many of the modules defined in XHTML Modularization 1.0 [XHTMLMOD], and includes the updated versions of all those modules and their semantics. XHTML 2 also uses modules from Ruby [RUBY], XML Events [XMLEVENTS], and XForms [XFORMS].
The modules defined in this specification are largely extensions of the modules defined in XHTML Modularization 1.0. This specification also defines the semantics of the modules it includes. So, that means that unlike earlier versions of XHTML that relied upon the semantics defined in HTML 4, all of the semantics for XHTML 2 are defined either in this specification or in the specifications that it normatively references.
Even though the XHTML 2 modules are defined in this specification, they are available for use in other XHTML family markup languages. Over time, it is possible that the modules defined in this specification will migrate into the XHTML Modularization specification.