Add blank HTML file

[mt.msla]

Hello -

Is there a way to create a blank HTML file and the default extension be .html instead of .xhtml?

Just curious. Also, should I be using the .xhtml instead of .html? What would the difference or benefit be?

Thanks,

Andy

[KevinH]

all epubs require xhtml files not html files. Xhtml files are true xml with case sensitivity and proper closing tag for every opening tag, etc. html code has much fewer restrictions and can omit closing tags such as a closing p tag in many circumstances leaving the code a bit of a spaghetti hash.

Early versions of epub3 required the .xhtml extension, now it is just recommended. Using .html is allowed but not encouraged. No matter what the extension, the contents are xhtml not html so matching the extension to the contents just makes the most sense.

[KevinH]

FYI, you can also mass change the file extension used for text files in Sigil at any point to be all .xhtml (or any other extension) using Sigil's BookBrowser

[Turtle91]

Not sure you were asking this as well, but you can add a blank page by right-clicking on the "Text" folder (or any current page IN the folder) and selecting "Add Blank HTML File" from the contextual pop-up. (see attachment)

As KevinH mentioned, the extension isn't as crucial as the content (xml syntax), don't be thrown off that the pop-up says HTML instead of XHTML.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by mt.msla

Just curious. Also, should I be using the .xhtml instead of .html? What would the difference or benefit be?

See our discussion back in:

• 2019: "Is there any value to XHTML vs HTML?"

Like KevinH said, EPUBs require XHTML.

What's the difference?

Well, HTML is very loose with their rules + XHTML is a little more strict.

So HTML would allow code like:

<p>This is a paragraph.
<p>This is another paragraph.

where XHTML says: "Hey! If you open it, you need to close it too!"

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>

Or like KevinH said, one XHTML rule is "all lowercase tags", so HTML allows:

<P>This is a paragraph.</p>
<BLOCKQUOTE><p>This is a blockquote with <SpAn>a span</span>.</p></BLOCKQUOTE>

XHTML:

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<blockquote><p>This is a blockquote with <span>a span</span>.</p></blockquote>

There are a few more basic differences like that, (and then some extremely technical ones that most people will never need to know about).

All you need to know is that Sigil's Mend and Prettify will clean up a lot of that junk if you accidentally put it in your documents. :P

[mt.msla]

Appreciate the help! Esp @Tex2002ans