Step 1 of XHTML. Begin with a bracket.
Here are some links I found that help establish basic understanding of XHTML and allows you to practice your new coding skills as well!
http://practiceboard.com/ -- type in code and it will display the code beneath as it would be seen on the webpage http://sustainablewebdesign.com/book/ --companion to book How to design and Write Web Pages Today http://webdesign.about.com/od/beginningtutorials/Beginning_HTML_XHTML_Tutorials.htm -- seems to have pretty much ANYTHING about basic coding. At least 100 different tutorials. http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_xhtml.asp -- shows different coding techniques and why XHTML is cleaner than HTML. http://www.dynamicdrive.com/ -- gives code for different things that some may want on a website such as a calendar, games etc WITH description of what each part of the code means.
http://www.xmlfiles.com/xml/xml_intro.asp -- concise definitions of basic aspects of XML. http://www.miswebdesign.com/resources/articles/web-design-xhtml-1-3.html an explanation of HTML broken down piece by piece, more so than the book does. (so much so it has the brackets broken down, labeled as "left bracket" -- THAT kind of broken down.) Some key things to remember that I loved: XHTML is a house’s foundation, CSS is its walls and paint, and Javascript are the appliances in the house.