XHTML

[Joe Perez <joeperez -at- usa -dot- net>]

In the past few years I've worked on several Web-based documentation/online
help projects, and so far ASP (Active Server Pages), HTML 4.0 or HTML Help
technologies have worked just fine to deliver the content to the users. There
are several reasons offhand for my not using XHTML 1 on these projects: 1) it
didn't exist then, 2) it still doesn't exist (except in recommendation form to
the W3C), 3) there aren't really good tools yet for editing XML, and 4) XML
compatability has not been necessary (at least not for projects I've worked on
or read about). Furthermore, if I wanted to build a Help project that
categorized content
according to various meta-data categories or certain parameters
(inclusive/exclusive/hidden), I don't need XML; this can be achieved using the
Microsoft HTML Help's "information types" feature. 

Since XHTML is the next step in the evolution of the Internet, I expect it
will also play an important role in the design of future Web-based online help
systems (perhaps for many of the new devices and appliances for accessing
Internet content). However, practically speaking, that's probably a few year's
off. Most software help systems haven't migrated from winhelp to HTML-based
help yet, so there's quite a bit of catching up to do. 

P.S.: I agree with the other list user who appreciates Allaire's Homesite. As
a down and dirty HTML editor, it rocks.

=================================================
Joseph M. Perez - mailto:joeperez -at- usa -dot- net
Technical Writer http://members.tripod.com/seattletech/resume.html

____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1