What You Need To Write In XHTML

Guest Author - Diane Cipollo

If you have been creating HTML webpages you probably already have most of what you need to make the move to XHTML. For those who are new to creating webpages, you can have your computer ready for XHTML in four easy steps.

XHTML webpages are written as plain text files. This means that you do not want to include any formatting in your XHTML file such as tab spacing or margins. The best type of text editor to use is one that is meant to create plain text files such as Microsoft^R Notepad for Windows^R or SimpleText for Mac users.
The second software you will need is an XHTML editor/browser. There are several XHTML editors that you can choose from. The one that I will refer to in these tutorials is the freeware XHTML editor called Amaya. This is an open source (free) program created by the W3C. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are the same people who have written the recommendations for the XHTML language.
After you create your XHTML webpages you will want to check them for any mistakes that may cause error messages. When you tested your HTML webpages all you needed to do was view the pages in a web browser. However XHTML is a more precise language and web browsers are not equipped for this type of testing. XHTML webpages are tested or validated by using a program called a validating parser. This program will test your XHTML pages for accuracy in syntax and structure. I suggest the free and easy-to-use W3C Markup Validation Service.
The last thing you will need is a program that will move your finished webpages from your computer to the web. This is called an FTP program (FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol). There are many good FTP programs available. For example, FTP Explorer from FTPx Corporation is a free program. Also, Direct FTP from CoffeeCup Software, Inc. and WS_FTP Pro from Ipswitch are two popular programs that are not too expensive.

After you have these programs, you are ready to write your first XHTML webpage.

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