Why is HTML5 not XML?
Why is HTML5 not XML? I've heard they were the similar or even the same thing.
XHTML5 is an XML serialization, or, rather, it uses XML serialization. HTML5 uses HTML serialization.
So HTML and XHTML aren't the same thing.
XHTML is an extended version of HTML, but it is different.
What is the difference?
In XHTML, void elements are closed according to the rules of XML syntax. HTML5 uses HTML parsing syntax, eliminating the space slash of XHTML.
I've heard HTML does not permit self-closing tags.
The majority of HTML5 elements are not self closing, but the upside is that a lot of them don't need an end tag.
HTML5 can be written with and without the self-closing slashes.
That feature is what makes it backward compatible with HTML4 and XHTML 1. You can create websites that meet both HTML5 and XHTML5 standards; that is called a polyglot markup.
You're making this way harder than it has to be. Can I just use XML?
You shouldn't use the XML serialization of XHTML5 because it doesn't work in earlier versions of Internet Explorer.
Who cares about earlier versions of IE?
The 20% or so of users still using Windows XP for starters.
I could simplify things writing it in XML.
Even if you can write an HTML document to be XML, it won't be well written XML.
What do you think I should do?
Write in HTML 5.0, and don't worry about XML. It had some influence on HTML4, but most of that has been lost in HTML5.
I'm glad to know I don't have to learn XML on top of HTML5.
It is going to be hard enough figuring out the Canvas element and whatever tools come out to make audio-visual files work without Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight plug-ins.