XHTML 2.0 Explained

The old <h1> through <h6> tags are still in XHTML 2.0. However, there is a similar feature intended to replace them. Basically, one just defines a section and then has headings in the section. Something along these lines can be done:

<section>
 <h>Heading</h>
 <section>
  <h>First Point Heading</h>
  <p>Content</p>
 </section>
 <section>
  <h>Second Point Heading</h>
  <p>Content</p>
 </section>
</section>

The point of all of this is to add a level of structure to the document. Everything is laid out simply and in a hierarchal manner. Search engines can get the information more easily, and non-visual web browsers can more easily let the blind user access the page more easily since they just have to look at the heading in the <h> tag.

The new <p> element

Unlike old versions of XHTML, in XHTML 2.0 the <p> element can contain block-level elements. (It still can't nest <p> elements, though.) What this means is that it is possible to put lists in a <p> element, tables, and all other sorts of elements. The <p> will be more of a "conceptual idea of a paragraph" according to W3C, the makers of XHTML.

Forget <hr />, introducing <separator />

Not nearly as big of a change as all the previous lists, but <hr /> has been replaced with <separator /> in order to more clearly state its purpose. It will place a separator (usually a horizontal line) in the document.