title: What problem does XHTML strict solve?
body: <p>I really don't understand the fascination with XHTML strict.  Inline JavaScript typically requires a rats nest of escapes to make it compatible with XHTML and semi-backwards compatible with MSIE 5 &amp; 6.   Then there is the issue of not being OCD enough on user input to make sure you don't miss any illegal characters.  It just seems like more effort then its worth.   Nevermind that almost every developer I've worked along side of keeps forgetting to ensure the content-type returned from the server is reset for XHTML pages from text/html to application/xhtml+xml.</p>
  
  <p>Wish I knew the name of the blogger, but someone else pointed out that a majority of supposedly XHTML compliant websites and open source packages are actually not because of that last issue, forgetting to set the content-type header correctly.</p>
  
  <p>I'm looking to understand why XHTML is useful, or build enough of an arsenal of arguments to prevent it ever being used in future projects that I have influence on.</p>