Xoc - 8:30 pm on Apr 17, 2001 (gmt 0)

I should have said, use XHTML 1.0 transitional using the feature set of HTML 3.2

The W3C is the group that publishes the standards for the web, which can all be found on [w3.org...] . All browsers, spiders, or any other tool that is written for the web is supposed to follow the W3 specifications. If you produce HTML that does not follow the W3 specifications, it is only coincidence if the tool understands the page.

There are various versions of the HTML specifications that have been published over the years. The one that almost every browser and spider understands almost every feature from is HTML 3.2. However, XHTML 1.0 is the current spec on what constitutes a web page according to the W3C. The main difference between XHTML 1.0 and previous versions of HTML is that the rules have been tightened up. So if you use the features from HTML 3.2, but code them using the tightened rules of XHTML 1.0, you make virtually everything that wants to understand your page able to; both old and new browsers and spiders. Furthermore, it means that you don't have to recode your pages in the future.