Comparison of layout engines (XHTML)

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File:HTML.svg
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The following tables compare XHTML compatibility and support for a number of layout engines. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

Only XHTML 1.1 is considered. XHTML 1.1 is necessarily XHTML 1.0 Strict with more elements and attributes deprecated. XHTML 2.0 is still a working draft with no layout engine support. XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4 (both served with text/html) are covered in comparison of layout engines (HTML). The comparison of XML capabilities are covered in comparison of layout engines (XML).

Version number, if possible, is provided for feature that is fully supported. Proprietary extensions are not included.

Explanation of the tables

Engine nomenclature

Rather than the names of web browsers, the names of the underlying engines are used. The browsers that use the various engines are listed below.

Layout engine	Used by
Trident	Internet Explorer and other Internet Explorer shells (Microsoft Windows operating systems only)
Tasman	Mac OS X versions of Internet Explorer and MSN
Gecko	All Mozilla software, including Firefox; SeaMonkey; Galeon; Camino; K-Meleon; Flock; also Epiphany-gecko
WebKit	Apple Safari; Google Chrome; Shiira; iCab 4; OmniWeb 5.5+; Epiphany; Adobe AIR; Midori; Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
KHTML	Konqueror
Presto	Opera; Opera Mobile, Nintendo DS Browser; Internet Channel; future Adobe Systems products
iCab	iCab 1-3
Prince XML	Prince

Values

Values indicate the level of support in the most recent version of the layout engine, or (if a version number is given) in the specified version. Version numbers without any other value indicate the version at which the layout engine first fully supported the feature.

Value	Meaning
Yes	Indicates that the layout engine fully supports this property/element when valid values are used.
No	Indicates that the property/element is completely ignored.
Partial	Indicates that the property/element is understood, but that not all values are supported. Supported values are implemented correctly.
Incorrect	Indicates that the property/element is understood, but that it is not implemented correctly in all cases.
Experimental	Indicates that the property/element is understood, but supported under an alternate name. May be incomplete or buggy.
Dropped	Indicates that the property/element is no longer supported.
Nightly build	Indicates that the property/element is supported to some extent in an experimental/nightly build. Future support is expected.

Media types

The responses when a well-formatted XHTML document is served with different media types. Note that only application/xhtml+xml is the recommended media type.

Internet media type	Trident	Tasman	Gecko	WebKit	KHTML	Presto	iCab	Prince XML
application/xhtml+xml	Prompt for download	Prompt for download	XHTML	XHTML 125	HTML	XHTML 1.0	(X)HTML	?
application/xml	XML	Crash	XHTML	XHTML 125	XML	XHTML 1.0	Text	?
text/xml	XML	Crash	XHTML	XHTML 125	XML	XHTML 1.0	Text	?
text/html	HTML	HTML	HTML	HTML	HTML	HTML	HTML	?

KHTML media type notes

1. application/xhtml+xml — KHTML supports this media type, but processes the document as HTML.
2. application/xml, text/xml — HTML entities and custom entities defined by custom DTD are not recognized.

iCab media type notes

1. application/xhtml+xml — Type selector in CSS is matched case-insensitively.

Combined profiles

Extending XHTML by combining with other applications of XML (not referring using img/object element).

	Trident	Tasman	Gecko	WebKit	KHTML	Presto	iCab	Prince XML
MathML	No	No	1.0	No	No	2.1	No	6.0
SVG			1.8	522	3.2	1.0		5.1
XForms			No	No	No	No		?
VoiceXML				No		1.0		No

References

• "W3C". XHTML media type test. http://www.w3.org/People/mimasa/test/xhtml/media-types/. Retrieved May 1 2005. 
• "the mozilla.org projects list". MathML in Mozilla. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/mathml/. Retrieved May 1 2005. 
• "the mozilla.org projects list". Mozilla SVG project. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/svg/. Retrieved May 1 2005. 
• "the mozilla.org projects list". Mozilla XForms project. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xforms/. Retrieved May 1 2005. 
• "Opera Features". SVG. http://www.opera.com/features/svg/. Retrieved May 1 2005. 
• "Developer's corner". Authoring XHTML+Voice. http://my.opera.com/community/dev/voice/. Retrieved May 1 2005.