Using XHTML - Umbrella Exemption

Web Guidelines Exemption for the use of XHTML coding

At their meeting of 7 March 2006, the e-GIF Management Committee approved an umbrella exemption for agencies for the use of XHTML as a coding standard.  Agencies are no longer required to seek an individual exemption, as previously indicated in the Web Guidelines v2.1.

The e-GIF Management Committee is aware that the World Wide Consortium (W3C) has recommended the use of XHTML since January 2000. The Committee notes that, at the time Web Guidelines v2.1 was published, the use of XHTML was not considered mature enough to include it as a recommended requirement. Consequently, agencies wishing to use XHTML were advised they must seek an exemption.

The current Web Guidelines v2.1 does not allow the use of XHTML as an agreed standard. This Umbrella Exemption applies, as long as the caveat measures apply.

Caveat Measures

Agencies using XHTML coding under this exemption must:

• adhere to the XHTML 1.0 strict standard (which is more rigorous than the straight XHTML 1.0 standard);
  
• ensure that the website can be validated against the W3C validator; and
  
• ensure there are no validation or accessibility issues with the websites produced as per the current Web Guidelines requirement.

Interim Measure

This exemption is available to agencies until completion of a formal review and rewrite of the Web Guidelines.

Individual Exemptions

Agency web sites that do not meet the above criteria must apply for individual exemptions.