Goodbye XHTML2?

July 02, 2009

What I know about XHTML2 I could fit in a small teaspoon… if knowledge was measured by liquid measurements. So I’m not strongly attached to the spec, its future, or its past. That isn’t to say those things don’t matter, merely that I’m not too aware of them.

However, today it’s been announced that the W3C’s XHTML2 working group will not be renewed after its charter expires this year, so that the resources can be focused on HTML5.

Considering the editorial bottle-necking the HTML5 spec has (aka, Ian Hickson as the sole editor and a track record for NIH mentality) I’m not sure how much these resources will impact the spec’s maturation speed. However, I am glad that they’re making this move as everyone and his cousin agrees that HTML5 is important, even if they’re not quite sure how/if it works.

In particular, I found John Allsopp’s recent tweets about HTML5 to be a very interesting look at the spec’s current status (here’s an example), which gives me the impression it needs all the help it can get to reach a stable state.

Speaking of help, I wanted to mention HTML5 Doctor, brought to you by snogtastic Bruce Lawson, Rich Clark, Jack Osborne, Mike Robinson, Remy Sharp and Tom Leadbetter. Got a HTML5 question? They’re here to help! (No, really, they’re really helpful.)

3 Responses to “Goodbye XHTML2?”

  1. [...] WG was being discontinued, so the resources could be focused on HTML5. I briefly mentioned it here, and Jeffrey Zeldman spoke about it here. It’s a simple enough matter, and drew a lot of [...]

  2. Thanks for the mention Kyle! Glad us “Doctors” can be of service.

  3. @Rich – Thank you for HTML5 Doctor!