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An XHTML Tutorial That Does Not Assume HTML?

Posted by timothy on from the why-not-just-teach-some-html-first dept.

stevelinton writes "I am looking for a tutorial similar to Dave Ragget's excellent HTML tutorial(s), but for XHTML 1.1. I am NOT looking for a "HTML to XHTML" conversion tutorial. I want to teach a class XHTML 1.1 from day 1, without assuming that they know any HTML at all. Does anyone know of such a thing?"

3 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Good stuff here . . . by robbear7 · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/default.asp

  2. Intro to XHTML by Miraz · · Score: 4, Informative

    No problem at all to start people off on XHTML instead of HTML. For an entry level, beginner's course which teaches correct, valid, accessible XHTML which will then link to a CSS stylesheet look at my Intro to XHTML. This includes how to correctly structure information rather than just format it. Includes MP3 files and video. It's free.

  3. Don't just teach XHTML, but put it in Context by AShocka · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are some good references here already, but you need to do more than just teach pure xhtml, you should give some history and context, and reasons why xhtml exists. Cover both the benefits, limitations and user agent support. It's important to put whatever you are teaching in context, not just teach it devoid of real life application and history.

    Explain xhtml in terms of the main xhtml DOCTYPES/DTDs; strict, transitional and frameset. Without understanding DOCTYPEs the context of markup can be lost. Focus on strict dtd, but be sure to cover it's dangers and limitations in user agents. Getting students to work with strict will give them a better understanding of the whole process of trying to separate content from presentation, develop real knowledge and skills and understanding the benefits of this in the long run. If students use strict they will need to reject all use of deprecated tags, which is a good discipline to get into.

    Learning xhtml is not as tough as learning good accompanying CSS practice, especially if you are trying to manage positioning in the design, and also design according to accessibility principles using relative units instead of absolute units.

    You should also cover relevant material in W3C documents

    Also briefly address xhtml2 (xforms etc), XML and XSL/XSLT.