**Understanding the Differences Between HTML, XHTML, and XML .**

In this artiicle I will discussing, briefly with code examples what the diffrence between HTML, XHTML and XML. When working with web technologies, it’s essential to know the differences between HTML, XHTML, and XML. These are all markup languages used to structure content, but they serve different purposes and have distinct characteristics. In this article, I’ll explain these differences, breaking down their functions and providing code examples.

**1. What is HTML (HyperText Markup Language)?**

HTML is the standard language for creating web pages. It provides the basic structure of a webpage, using a set of predefined tags. HTML allows you to define headings, paragraphs, images, links, and other elements for displaying content.

Key Features of HTML:

1. HTML is designed for displaying content on web pages.

It is flexible and forgiving. Browsers can display HTML pages even if there are minor mistakes.

It uses tags like <`html`>, <`head`>, <`body`>, and others to define the structure.

Example of HTML:
<`!DOCTYPE html`>
<`html lang="en"`>
<`head`>
<`meta charset="UTF-8"`>
<`meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"`>
<`title`>My HTML Website<`/title`>
<`/head`>
<`body`>
<`h1`>Welcome to my Website!<`/h1`>
<`p`>This is a sample of HTML page.<`/p`>
<`a href="#"`>Click Here<`/a`>
<`/body`>
<`/html`>

In this HTML example, the structure of the webpage is defined with opening and closing tags like <`h1`>, <`p`>, and <`a`>. HTML allows some flexibility, so it won’t break if, for example, one forgets to close a tag.

**2. What is XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language)?**

XHTML is a stricter version of HTML. It combines HTML and XML (a more general-purpose markup language) to create a more structured and well-formed document. XHTML enforces rules about proper tag closure and attribute quoting, making it more precise than HTML.

Key Features of XHTML:

1. XHTML is a stricter version of HTML and follows XML rules.

2. Every tag must be properly closed, and attributes must be quoted.

3. The document must be well-formed, meaning it follows the proper syntax rules.

4. XHTML documents are usually case-sensitive, meaning tags like <`body`> must be written in lowercase.

Example of XHTML:

<`?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?`>
<`!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"`>
<`html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"`>
<`head`>
<`meta charset="UTF-8" /`>
<`meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" /`>
<`title`>My XHTML Page<`/title`>
<`/head`>
<`body`>
<`h1`>Welcome to my XHTML Page!<`/h1`>
<`p`>This is a properly formatted XHTML page.<`/p`>
<`a href="#"`>Click Here<`/a`>
<`/body`>
<`/html`>

**3. What is XML (eXtensible Markup Language)?**

XML is not used specifically for web pages, but it is a general-purpose markup language designed to store and transport data. Unlike HTML and XHTML, XML does not define how data is displayed, it just structures the data in a readable format.

Key Features of XML:

1. XML is used for storing and transporting data, not for displaying content.

2. It is highly flexible. Users can define their own tags to suit specific needs.

3.It is strict in terms of structure.

4. Tags must be properly nested and closed.

5. XML documents are case-sensitive.

Example of XML:

<`?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?`>
<`bookstore`>
<`book`>
<`title lang="en"`>Learning XML<`/title`>
<`author`>John Doe<`/author`>
<`price`>39.99<`/price`>
<`/book`>
<`book`>
<`title lang="es"`>Aprendiendo XML<`/title`>
<`author`>Juan Pérez<`/author`>
<`price`>29.99<`/price`>
<`/book`>
<`/bookstore`>

In this XML example:
The document contains custom tags like <`bookstore`>, <`book`>, and <`title`>, which are used to represent data.
XML is flexible because you can create your own tags (e.g., <`book`>, <`author`>).
Though the structure is strict, tags must be closed, and the data must be well-formed.

**To sum up:**

HTML is the most widely used markup language for creating web pages. It is flexible and less strict. While, XHTML is a stricter version of HTML, designed to combine HTML and XML for better consistency and compatibility across platforms. Finally, XML is not a display language; it is used for data storage and transport, offering flexibility to define custom tags and structures.
Understanding these distinctions helps one choose the right technology depending on the context, whether you're designing a webpage (HTML or XHTML) or working with data (XML).

Congratulations! 🥳🎉
You are one percent better.