XHTML vs HTML5 Comparison
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XHTML vs HTML5
Both build web pages, but they differ in strictness, features, and philosophy. HTML5 is the modern standard.
Comparison Table
| Feature | XHTML | HTML5 |
|---|---|---|
| Syntax | Strict (XML) | Flexible |
| Error handling | Breaks page | Forgiving |
| New media tags | No | video, audio, canvas |
| Semantic tags | Limited | header, nav, article... |
| APIs | None | Geolocation, Storage, etc. |
Doctype Difference
<!-- XHTML -->
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" ...>
<!-- HTML5 — simple! -->
<!DOCTYPE html>Which Should You Use?
Use HTML5 for all new projects. It's simpler, more powerful, and universally supported.
FAQs
Is XHTML dead?
Mostly — HTML5 replaced it. Some XML-based systems still use XHTML. More in our XHTML guides.
Can HTML5 be written XHTML-style?
Yes — there's an XHTML5 serialization for XML toolchains.