What's next after HTML?

[Kathy Gaynor]

I've been trying to keep an eye on issues regarding XML, CSS, Javascript, 
etc.  I was wondering if there was any consensus on steps websites should 
be taking or directions in which they should be moving.  Probably 99% of 
our web pages (<http://library.webster.edu>) are straight HTML.  Should I 
be gradually switching these to Cascading Style Sheets?  Should I be adding 
closing tags (e.g. </p>) and cleaning up other code to conform to 
XML?  Should we change our document type definitions?

It's so easy just to sit back and ignore all these developments since most 
have indicated that plain HTML pages will continue to work for some 
time.  I'm concerned, however, that there are steps a responsible website 
developer (albeit an amateur) should be taking in preparation for things to 
come.  Much like the steps taken to insure Y2K compliance, I don't want to 
wake up on the future's equivalent of Jan. 1, 2000 and find I missed the boat.

Thanks for your advice.  I'm feeling technologically vulnerable these days 
as my car's battery died on Sunday,  I have a runaway bathroom faucet 
gushing like a geyser that I can't fix myself, and I apparently blew some 
circuit in the master bath and now half the lights in the bedroom won't 
work.  Forget the XML--does anyone know a good electrician in St. Louis?

************************************************************************
Kathy M. Gaynor, Reference Librarian
Eden-Webster Library
475 E. Lockwood Ave.
St. Louis, MO  63119
(314) 968-6950
(314) 968-7113 fax
kgaynor at library2.webster.edu