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Andy8 · Nov 27, 2006, 11:04 AM

This may sound weird, but I have a stack of pages that are coded in XHTML and I want to convert them to HTML strict - is there any easy way to do so or does any application automate this?

SirCastor · Nov 27, 2006, 05:07 PM

That does sound weird, what are you trying to accomplish? If I may ask...?

Chuckit · Nov 27, 2006, 05:29 PM

Because most servers identify XHTML documents as HTML anyway, and he wants it to at least be valid HTML?

Andy8 · Nov 27, 2006, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Because most servers identify XHTML documents as HTML anyway, and he wants it to at least be valid HTML?

Exactly, and the fact that IE does not render XHTML correctly at all (even IE7!) Consider that there is still a huge user base using IE and will do from some time, I want to use HTML strict instead of XHTML, but I have a job that was partially completed using XHTML and I wanted to convert (if possible) the existing pages to HTML, instead of me having to start from scratch again.

besson3c · Nov 27, 2006, 08:16 PM

Why not just use your HTML in XHTML Transitional, and simply respect the deprecated tags and extremely minor changes?

I haven't had a problem this way...

Chuckit · Nov 27, 2006, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Why not just use your HTML in XHTML Transitional, and simply respect the deprecated tags and extremely minor changes?

I haven't had a problem this way...

Because his server sends the document as text/html, in which case it will be interpreted as HTML, so it makes sense just to use HTML?

besson3c · Nov 27, 2006, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Because his server sends the document as text/html, in which case it will be interpreted as HTML, so it makes sense just to use HTML?

Right, I understand that... but it seems like more trouble to convert everything back to HTML.

If you had to, I bet you could with some simple search/replaces, including the doctag.

Millennium · Nov 28, 2006, 10:34 AM

I think Tidy can do this automatically. Just run the XHTML through like you're validating it, but tell it to output HTML instead of XHTML.

mania · Nov 28, 2006, 02:11 PM

Andy8. IE should render XHTML just fine. I think you might have other problems with your code.

mrl14 · Nov 30, 2006, 02:49 AM

I have never heard of IE having any problems with XHTML. Can you post your code here that is causing problems?

As another poster suggested, Tidy may be able to do what you need.

Andy8 · Nov 30, 2006, 10:47 AM

Reading articles like this makes me want to use HTML not XHTML - no support for XHTML in IE 6 or IE7. The comments make interesting reading.

Andy8 · Nov 30, 2006, 10:55 AM

Or do I just serve the XHTML as text for now and be done with it?

mania · Nov 30, 2006, 03:56 PM

sounds like you are trying to serve it as XML? that will likely cause browser problems.

LiquidGuy · Nov 30, 2006, 05:33 PM

There is virtually *no* difference between HTML Strict, and XHTML Strict (served as text/html). Sounds like an exercise in futility, unless you're using a language that doesn't support XHTML correctly (ASP, I'm glaring at you).

In any event, a doctype switch and some regex to find trailing slashes would take care of that problem in minutes.

Andy8 · Dec 15, 2006, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by LiquidGuy

There is virtually *no* difference between HTML Strict, and XHTML Strict (served as text/html). Sounds like an exercise in futility, unless you're using a language that doesn't support XHTML correctly (ASP, I'm glaring at you).

In any event, a doctype switch and some regex to find trailing slashes would take care of that problem in minutes.

What is the correct doctype to serve it up as text instead of xml? - I am going to stick with XHTML strict for now.