The advantages of knowing XHTML as a journalist in Africa

Why it is important for journalists to have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML in the African context.

As a journalist it is essential that I have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML, especially considering that I am working in the bandwidth-poor continent of Africa. For those in Africa who do actually have access to the internet, it is far more expensive than in developed countries and providers have “less bandwidth that a home broadband user in North America or Europe” [3]. For reasons such as the lack of optic fibre cables which are able to supply international low-cost bandwidth, the developing nations of Africa continue to struggle with low bandwidth and high internet access costs. In fact this problem is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa “which has the lowest teledensity in the world and the highest unmet demand for telecommunication services” [3].

In light of this, there is huge value in using XHTML as it creates more accessible pages through making it easy to share and process electronic documents regardless of the type of device, computer platform or operating system used [1]. This is invaluable because it makes websites more predictable, more portable, and more accessible, as they are built to work on more than just one specific browser [1].

Thus through using XHTML one can create “optimized easy-to-manage web sites that upload and download faster, and enhance search engine optimization” [2]. Essentially ‘less is more’ in that the cleaner one’s pages are and the least markup and tags they have, the more streamlined, efficient, easy-to-mange, search engine-friendly the web design will be [2]. This is especially the case where web pages are designed with Cascading Style Sheets modelled on well-structured XHTML pages.

Structural XHTML markup also has the advantage of device independence and repurposing of documents. A basic XHTML structure document can be paired with any number of stylesheets to provide output to numerous devices such as “computer screens (through web browsers), high-resolution printers, handheld devices, aural browsers or braille devices for those with visual impairments, and so on” [5]. Readily available stylesheets make this a simple matter of pairing a semantic HTML document with the appropriate stylesheets, which is helpful for providers with low bandwidths. [5]

In addition to all these advantages for those wishing to consume media in Africa, knowing XHTML has a lot of benefits for the journalist themselves. Considering that they may not always have access to expensive software, the ability to create web pages just with a basic text editor is invaluable [4]. Hence, as a contemporary journalist wishing to go into this great continent and produce significant multi and online media, my skills in XHTML are all the more relevant and pertinent to my context and will benefit me and the media I produce in the years to come.

Works Cited

[1] Byrne, Jim. 2003. The Advantages of Using Valid HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007: http://www.mcu.org.uk/training/usestandardmarkup.php

[2] Kraus, Bud. 2007. Why learn XHTML and CSS? Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://www.joyofcode.com/reasons_to_learn.html

[3] Jensen, Mike. 2006. Open Access: Lowering the Costs of International Bandwidth in Africa. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007:
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/apc0612.php

[4] Niles, Robert.2005. From the Teaching Trenches: Hardcoding is Harder, but Results are Worth It. Retreived from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050113niles/

[5] Wikipedia. 2007. HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 07 March 2007: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html#Semantic_HTML