Well, I've finally done it. Or at least, I've mostly done it. Actually I've done a couple of things: I've remade Receptacle using standards-compliant XHTML and CSS... And I've moved from Blogger to Movable Type.

There are still several kinks to be worked out, mostly because Blogger requires one template and Movable Type requires about a million. The styles all seem to be working out, though.

I can't make any promises about the non-index page or anything containing older entries, but this page currently validates as: XHTML Transitional, 508, and AAA

It would validate as CSS, too, if not for the .htc behavior document I'm using to cover up an IE bug. Bummer.

So...

Why Movable Type?
Well... Some of you may remember my ranting and raving when a glitch in Blogger erased my template and took down my blog. Some of you may even be aware that this happened on four separate occassions. A few of you may even know about the apology a Blogger rep gave me, saying they were aware of the bug and hoped to someday repair it. Between that and the lack of Categories, the choice was clear.
Blogger, we've been together for a long time. Through thick and thin, I've always stuck by you. Now it's time to do something for myself. For me. I hope you'll understand.

Why XHTML? And.. er... What IS XHTML?
This may come as a shock to you but... HTML is dead. The last version of HTML that was actually called HTML was killed off two years ago by the World Wide Web Consortium and replaced with a new standard called XHTML: eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language.
Resembling XML and striving to keep data and presentation information seperate, XHTML is a series of tags, attributes and delimiters to store data exclusively. There are no presentation instructions allowed. No table heights or font faces or background colors, nothing. Just static data stored in elements. Each element has a class or id associated with it, which corresponds to a style rule in a CSS document. The CSS document contains no data, but only presentation instructions for the page and page elements.
This all means that if this page were viewed with no CSS styles at all, it would still be legible and functional. It would be browser default text on a plain white background with no formatting. If you happen to be using FireFox, or if you check back in a few days when I've written a CSS Disable script, you can see for yourself.

Why XHTML Transitional? You some kinda web-chicken?
Yes, I am. This page currently validates as XHTML Transitional, as oppose top XHTML Strict. That's because I'm still using some transitional techniques, slated to be deprecated in the new XHTML standard. For me, it was target="_new". This is the command that makes my links automatically open into new windows and it is not part of the XHTML Strict standard. I consider it an important part of the user experience and was not interested in replicated it's behavior with JavaScript, so I kept it.
Also, CSS Behaviors. In order to allow IE users to see rollover background (like in the sidebars), I've had to link my CSS to an .htc document that uses Jscript to replicate standard DHTML rollovers. This is becaise Microsoft does not allow the :hover selector to apply to anything besides an <a> tag. This page is using them on <li> and <h4> tags. Normally, this would deprecate nicely in IE, with users only seeing the links roll over, but I wanted the same experience for all users, so I've added the .htc file and forsaken XHTML Strict validity.

Click here to see the CSS for this page.

Click here to read the W3C XHTML Standard.