Monthly Archives: November 2010

HTML5 May Not Be XHTML, But That’s No Excuse for Sloppiness

I was reading an interesting post about HTML5 and the failure of XHTML strict parsing recently, and it reminded me of an issue I have with the HTML5 spec.

It really bothers me that the HTML5 spec permits the use of quoteless attribute values (e.g. class=blah instead of class="blah") and a lack of closing slashes in empty tags. I think we can all agree that strict parsing, like with properly-served XHTML, isn’t optimal. (XML pages are too fragile. Especially when you have user-submitted content, it’s all to easy to completely break the page.) But the coding practices encouraged by XHTML make it much easier to parse web pages and to maintain some level of source legibility.

I think the HTML5 specification should incorporate some of XHTML’s requirements, while dropping the strict parsing. Let’s have quoted attributes and slash-terminated <img /> and <br /> tags. Anything else is sloppy and all too reminiscent of the Geocities days.

Anyone aiming for some level of professionalism in their work should continue with current XHTML-style coding practices and apply them to HTML5 when it comes time for that.

In the words of Tantek Çelik:

I’m going to continue coding my HTML5 with quoted attributes, explicit closing tags, and self-closing empty elements, making them what I call “bi-glot” documents: both HTML5, and valid XML.

I’ve given up on “proper” XHTML (by any definition). Long Live XML-valid HTML5.

FireSheep: Grey Hat Security?

A scary new Firefox extension known as Firesheep came onto the scene recently. For years it has been possible for nefarious users to “sniff” unencrypted network packets for session cookies, allowing them to, with a bit of work, hijack your session with a website.…

BlogBuzz November 6, 2010

Twitter Starting In-Stream Targeted Advertisements

Twitter is beginning their foray into in-stream advertising, adding targeted sponsored tweets that are targeted based off brands you follow. For example, if you follow Starbucks (I have no idea why you would, but hey…) you might see the occasional paid ad promoting some…

WooThemes Launches Tumbleblog Plugin and iPhone App

WooThemes has launched an iPhone app, called Express, for their tumbleblog themes. It makes it easy to post Tumblr-style to your WordPress blog. If you’re not using one of the supported tumbleblog themes, they have also built a WordPress plugin that will add the…

Blogging Tip: Keep a File of Post Ideas

What am I going to write today? I have asked myself that question countless times. You too have probably spent hours trying to think up a concept for a post on your blog. Inspiration comes and goes. It’s the curse of the writer. Even…