What is XHTML 1.1?

XHTML is a rewrite of the HTML (hyper-text mark-up language) as an XML application. Now in English: XHTML uses the basic HTML vocabulary while requiring a well-structured document. But what are these buttons?

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Each of those buttons takes the URL from the pages upon which they reside (in this case, it's http://www.veiled-chameleon.com/xhtml11.html) and sends that URL to a validation form located at w3.org which checks the structure and the syntax of the page to verify whether it is or is not a valid XHTML 1.1 document.

Why insist upon valid XHTML 1.1?

For me the answer is a simple one: it forces me to take a more disciplined and more professional of an approach toward creating web pages than is taken by the amateur population.

But there are better reasons:

• By following a certain set of standards, I can be confident that all browsers which support those standards are likely to display the pages in the same way. This is not always true with non-standard mark-up, as one browser, muddling through confusing code, might interpret it very differently from a different brand of browser.
• The XHTML 1.1 standard allows a developer to write his code in a way that can be logically and readily interpreted by readers of text-based browsers, such as lynx. Non-standard mark-up, or even standard HTML mark-up, will tend to mix and jumble paragraphs upon the screen of a text-based browser, leaving the reader confused.
• XHTML 1.1 allows for the easy creation of different display formats, such as a page format for printing, for wireless devices and PDAs, and television based browsers, simply by writing a new CSS (cascading style sheet) for the new document.

If you happen to click one of those buttons on this site and it doesn't validate as XHTML 1.1, please let me know. I'll appreciate your input!