With the impending completion of the HTML5 spec, I thought I’d summarize the major differences between XHTML and HTML5 that affect me the most in my daily blogging and web development. Figured this might be useful to others.

Void elements (those that cannot contain text or other elements, and thus don’t require an end tag) don’t need to be closed with a nitpicky trailing slash

<br> is ok!
<img src="image.jpg" alt="image"> is ok!

Unquoted attribute-values are ok (if the value doesn’t contain spaces)

<input type=checkbox> is ok!

Empty attributes (those that don’t require a value) don’t need values

<input type=checkbox checked> is ok!

The acronym element is now obsolete, use abbr instead (which is conveniently 3 characters shorter)

<abbr title="hypertext markup language">HTML</abbr>

Viva HTML!

Went skiing for the first time in Tahoe last weekend, and my second time ever. Had a little trouble getting there—on Friday night Caltrans closed I-80 at Colfax—but we adapted and found a hotel for the night before continuing on our way to Squaw Valley the next morning.

Spent Saturday afternoon trying to find my ski-legs, and then retreated to a rented house we shared with eight other loosely joined friends and acquaintances, including Tony and Visda. Much food was consumed, stories were told, until we finally collapsed, bellies full and muscles newly sore.

The weather was much better on Sunday, and we spent time enjoying both some easier and more challenging trails, including one that starts at the top of Emigrant Peak with views of Lake Tahoe in the distance. It felt a lot steeper in real life!

First attempt…

Finally, caught on “film”!

While going through my mushroom foraging photos, I discovered that I’d captured a decent picture of a cow crossing sign as Danny and I drove south on California 1. It joins bear, dear, bighorn, and elk in my menagerie.

Sometimes it’s good to be a cow

Half of the black trumpet mushrooms I foraged went into a very tasty, but not very photogenic coq-au-vin (chicken with wine stew) that I made in the slow cooker—just in time to feed two surprise guests a week ago. I resuscitated the leftovers tonight as sort of improvised “French jambalaya”. Très yummy.

The rest went into a soup, which I cooked with sauteed onions in chicken stock, before pureeing. I finished it off with a little cream and some sherry, resulting in a fairly rich, flavorful, almost potent soup. I think I may repurpose the rest as pasta sauce.

Sometimes, in rare moments, my kitchen looks so accidentally picturesque, I just have to stop and take a photo of it.

On the way back from the Channel Islands, we stopped for lunch at Mariscos Puerto Nuevo in Soledad, which I’d previously written up in the aptly titled, An alternative garnish for Mexican beer. Somehow I remembered exactly where the place was, 4 years later. Here is their signature Mexican beer, garnished with both a wedge of lime and a shrimp dipped in hot sauce.