XHTML 2 vs. HTML 5
Markup Report
So what's the deal with all this?
First off, neiter of these markups are a finished deal, so as time goes on maybe one will cleary rise above the other. For now however there are quite a few differences between the two that hass divided many people who develope websites. From what I can see this is the deal:
Basically HTML 5 is taking HTML 4 and XHTML 1 another step forward, HTML uses a lot of current standards and practices and continues to revise them to make them better. However, this has its problems, because things that are inherently wrong with these markups are only addressed in workarounds or other clever implementations because the problem itself is contained within the way the markup works. However, because it uses a lot of what is currently the standard it makes compatablility and usability (in the sense that people are already using much of it) easier.
XHTML 2 is going in a new direction, using XML exclusively the main purpose of XHTML 2 is to revise the current markup situation and get rid of a lot of issues that continue to be inherited through revisions of previous markups and standards. Some of the problem with XHTML 2 arises because it is just plain different from what people are use to doing and a lot current websites are not compatable with this markup.
However in the longrun this seems to be a better alternative because it cuts out diseased code that keeps getting passed from old version to new version of previous markups.
Overall going with XHTML 2 would be better. Although presently has more problems, basically XHTML 2 is new so that is to be expected. The thing is this, using only XML is going to allow a much better internet experience, so if we need to take a step back to get on the path which we know is going to take us higher up the mountain, we may as well do it now and get it over with.