Last week, I presented my thoughts about XHTML / CSS. My goal was to discuss about how I think we should build a web site, the structure, the appearance. In fact, I have concerns about how developers are using HTML, inline styles and javascript. So many developers don’t know about XHTML, javascript frameworks or even CSS … and they don’t want to. But they should ! They should try to maintain or refact their work.
I think XHTML should be applied on EVERY pages. The HTML there should represent the data only. The appearance should be done with CSS. For me, the use of reset.css is mandatory. A CSS framework like Blueprintcss could be a lot useful. For event behavior, Ajax or anything non-HTML, jQuery does an excellent job.
Finally, sure it is not easy to follow this method at 100%. Perfect separation between the HTML and the CSS could be a pain at first. But at least, if someone has to maintain your work, you follow a standard that someone can understand.
My slides (in french) are available on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/rgiard/xhtml-css-janvier-2009-presentation
