I agree that CSS programming can be more difficult than table-based. I also know sites (please PM me for details) which look good in IE and FireFox, but not in Opera. I also know for a fact that Google search page itself is coded in HTML + tables for layout.
I come to the conclusion that considering the common part of the standard each browser accepts, it is possible to design a site using a standard set of tags. About this, I will comment more on the CSS forum.
As for XHTML, compared to HTML, I try, whenever possible to use / to plan to use XHTML because the rules to obey are stricter. In the long run, it means those even browsers that are not fault-tolerant can read my code. IE tolerates a HUGE array of mistakes, the most obvious one being the lack of <body> tag, but the IE’s code is bigger than the code of a browser used in a cell phone, for instance. In other words, a cell-phone browser might not have enough space to implement fault-tolerant code, therefore it might read properly only valide XHTML code.
I love to see people arguing about the use of XHTML and I believe anyone interested can make his/her own opinion looking at the arguments, and choosing the best method for a particular application / timeframe.
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