Rename html_base writer to html_plain, move xhtml11 writer back to sandbox.

git-svn-id: http://svn.code.sf.net/p/docutils/code/trunk@7901 929543f6-e4f2-0310-98a6-ba3bd3dd1d04

30 files changed, 330 insertions, 532 deletions

diff --git a/docutils/HISTORY.txt b/docutils/HISTORY.txt
index 27bfa8b4e..946e96390 100644
--- a/docutils/HISTORY.txt
+++ b/docutils/HISTORY.txt
@@ -43,15 +43,13 @@ Changes Since 0.12
   - Add ``\colon`` macro, fix spacing around colons. Fixes [ 246 ].
   - New upstream version (additional macros, piecewise integrals and sums).
 
-* docutils/writers/html_base/
+* docutils/writers/html_plain/
 
   - New HTML writer generating clean, polyglot_ markup conforming to
     `HTML 5`_ and compatible with `XHTML 1.0`_ Transitional.
 
-    CSS stylesheets ``minimal.css`` and ``plain.css`` with required and
-    recommended layout rules.
-
-    Also base for the xhtml11_ writer.
+    The CSS stylesheets ``minimal.css`` and ``plain.css`` contain required
+    and recommended layout rules.
 
 * docutils/writers/html4css1/__init__.py
 
@@ -84,16 +82,9 @@ Changes Since 0.12
 
   - LuaLaTex compatibility: do not load "xunicode".
 
-* docutils/writers/_`xhtml11`/
-
-  - New HTML writer generating `XHTML 1.1`_ styled with CSS2.1
-    Moved to the docutils core from sandbox/html4strict.
-
-
 * tools/
 
-  - New front-ends ``rst2xhtml.py`` and ``rst2html5.py`` for the
-    corresponding writers.
+  - New front-end ``rst2html5.py``.
 
 * tox.ini
 
@@ -105,7 +96,6 @@ Changes Since 0.12
 .. _polyglot: http://www.w3.org/TR/html-polyglot/
 .. _HTML 5: http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/
 .. _XHTML 1.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/
-.. _XHTML 1.1: http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/
 
 
 Release 0.12 (2014-07-06)
diff --git a/docutils/RELEASE-NOTES.txt b/docutils/RELEASE-NOTES.txt
index 7e6663f1b..9d2d5a0d6 100644
--- a/docutils/RELEASE-NOTES.txt
+++ b/docutils/RELEASE-NOTES.txt
@@ -38,19 +38,16 @@ Future changes
 Changes Since 0.12
 ==================
 
-* docutils/writers/
+* docutils/writers/html_plain
 
-  - New HTML writers generating `HTML 5`_ and `XHTML 1.1`_.
+  - New HTML writer generating `HTML 5`_.
 
-    New stylesheet ``html-base.css`` for default layout using CSS 2.1.
 
 * tools/
 
-  - New front-ends ``rst2xhtml.py`` and ``rst2html5.py`` for the
-    corresponding writers.
+  - New front-end ``rst2html5.py``.
 
 .. _HTML 5: http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/
-.. _XHTML 1.1: http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/
 
 
 Release 0.12 (2014-07-06)
diff --git a/docutils/docs/dev/todo.txt b/docutils/docs/dev/todo.txt
index bb904c7f1..552098e3a 100644
--- a/docutils/docs/dev/todo.txt
+++ b/docutils/docs/dev/todo.txt
@@ -376,6 +376,44 @@ General
   Especially useful for character entity sets, text transform specs,
   boilerplate, etc.
 
+* Support "include" as embedded inline-compatible directive in substitution
+  definitions, e.g. ::
+
+    .. |version| include:: version.txt
+
+    This document describes version |version| of ...
+
+  (cf. Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz's post from 2014-10-01 in docutils-devel)
+
+* Add an ``:optional: <replacement text>`` option to the "include"
+  directive? This would not throw an error for a missing file, instead a
+  warning is given and ``<replacement text>`` is used instead. It would be
+  the responsibility of the author to ensure the missing file does not lead
+  to problems later in the document.
+
+  Use cases:
+
+  + Standard rST syntax to replace Sphinx's "literalinclude"::
+
+      .. include:: blah.cpp
+         :literal:
+         :optional: file ``blah.cpp`` not found
+
+  + Variable content taken from a file, e.g.
+
+    version.txt::
+
+       .. |version| replace:: 3.1
+
+    optionally used as::
+
+       .. include:: version.txt
+          :optional: .. |version| replace:: unknown
+
+       This document describes version |version| of ...
+
+    (cf. Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz's post from 2014-10-01 in docutils-devel)
+
 * Parameterize the Reporter object or class?  See the `2004-02-18
   "rest checking and source path"`_ thread.
 
@@ -1725,6 +1763,20 @@ when used in a document.
     either by running it at the command line with a ``--help`` option
     or through an exposed API.  [Suggestion for Optik.]
 
+  - _`body.float`: Generic float that can be used for figures, tables,
+    code listings, flowcharts, ...
+
+    There is a Sphinx extension by Ignacio Fernández Galván <jellby@gmail.com>
+
+       I implemented something for generic floats in sphinx, and submitted a
+       pull request that is still waiting::
+
+        .. float::
+           :type: figure
+           :caption: My caption
+
+      https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/pull/1858
+
 
 Interpreted Text
 ----------------
@@ -2506,9 +2558,9 @@ Image and figure directives
   + `<../../test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html4css1.html>`__
   + `<../../test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_latex.tex>`__
 
-* According to the HTML standard
-  http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/objects.html#adef-align-IMG a right- or
-  left-aligned image should be floated alongside the paragraph.
+* The default CSS styling for HTML output (plain.css, default.css) lets
+  text following a right- or left-aligned image float to the side of the
+  image/figure.
 
   + Use this default also for LaTeX?
 
diff --git a/docutils/docs/user/html.txt b/docutils/docs/user/html.txt
index c93889293..3f12f2659 100644
--- a/docutils/docs/user/html.txt
+++ b/docutils/docs/user/html.txt
@@ -5,98 +5,122 @@ Docutils HTML writers
 .. note:: This document is a working draft. Naming of writers, aliases, and
    front-ends may change before the release of Docutils 0.13.
 
-   The ⚠ symbol marks suggestions that are still open to
-   discussion and change.
+.. contents::
 
 Overview
 --------
 
-Docutils supports
+* `Generic HTML writers`_
 
-* state of the art HTML (html_base_, html5) ⚠
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
+  name        alias(es)      `front-end`_   HTML version      CSS version
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
+  html4css1_  html4          rst2html4.py   `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
+                                            Transitional`_
 
-* state of the art XHTML (xhtml11_) ⚠
+  ..          html_          rst2html.py    `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
+                                            Transitional`_
 
-* older user agents with no/limited support for CSS and XHTML (html4css1_
-  and descendants).
+  html_plain_ html5_         rst2html5.py   `HTML 5`_         `CSS 3`_
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
 
-Additionally, there are special purpose writers (pep_html_, s5_html_) in the
-Docutils core and others (e.g. html4trans_) in the sandbox.
+* `Special HTML writers`_
 
-=========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
-name        alias(es)      `front-end`_   HTML version(s)   CSS version
-=========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
-[#base]_                                  HTML5_, (`XHTML 1 `CSS 3`_
-                                          Transitional`_)
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
+  name        alias(es)      `front-end`_   HTML version      CSS version
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
+  pep_html_   ..             rstpep2html.py `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
+                                            Transitional`_
 
-[#5]_       html5 [#5]_    rst2html5.py   HTML5_,           `CSS 3`_
+  s5_html_    s5             rst2s5.py      `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
+                                            Transitional`_
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
 
-xhtml11_    xhtml,         rst2xhtml.py   `XHTML 1.1`_,     `CSS 3`_
-            html4strict                   (HTML5_)
+* `HTML writers in the sandbox`_
 
-html4css1_  html_ [#h]_,   rst2html.py    `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
-            html4                         Transitional`_
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
+  name        alias(es)      `front-end`_   HTML version      CSS version
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
+  xhtml11_    xhtml,         rst2xhtml.py   `XHTML 1.1`_      `CSS 3`_
+              html4strict
 
-pep_html_   ..             rstpep2html.py `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
-                                          Transitional`_
+  html4trans_ ..             rst2html_trans `XHTML 1          no CSS
+                                            Transitional`_    required
+  =========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
 
-s5_html_    s5             rst2s5.py      `XHTML 1          `CSS 1`_
-                                          Transitional`_
-=========== ============== ============== ================= ===========
 
-.. [#base] TODO: Find the right name for the basic html writer.
-.. [#5] `html5` may become the name for a specialised `html5 writer`_ in a
-   future release.
+.. _front-end: tools.html
 
-.. There is one more HTML writer in the sandbox:
+Generic HTML writers
+--------------------
 
-   html4trans_                rst2html_trans `XHTML 1          no CSS
-                              [#sandbox]_    Transitional`_    required
+html4css1
+~~~~~~~~~
 
-   .. [#sandbox] in the sandbox
+:aliases:    html4, html_
+:front-ends: rst2html4.py, rst2html.py_
+:config:     `[html4css1 writer]`_
 
-.. _front-end: tools.html
+The HTML Writer module, ``docutils/writers/html4css1.py``, started
+as a proof-of-concept reference implementation. It is the first Docutils
+writer and was up to release 0.13 the only official HTML writer.
 
-html
-----
+The output conforms to the `XHTML 1 Transitional`_ specification. It does
+not validate as `HTML 4.01 Transitional`_ due to the closing of empty tags
+required in XML but not allowed in HTML 4. However, the output follows the
+`HTML Compatibility Guidelines`_ for proper rendering on most HTML user
+agents.
 
-Currently, `html` is an alias for the html4css1_ writer.
+Correct rendering depends on a CSS_ style sheet. A reference style sheet,
+`html4css1.css`_, is provided and used by default.
 
-.. admonition:: suggestion
+To support the `Internet Explorer` (with a market share of about 90% around
+2002, the time this writer was written), documents contain some hard-coded
+formatting hints and are tagged as "text/html" (instead of
+"application/xhtml+xml"). [#IE]_
 
-  The writer alias `html` points to the "recommended Docutils HTML writer".
-  Its meaning may change with the development of HTML, browsers, Docutils, and
-  the web.
+.. [#IE] Conformance to `CSS 2.1`_ has been added in IE 8 (2009), support
+   for XHTML in IE 9 (2011).
 
-  * Use `get_writer_by_name('html') or the ``rst2html.py`` front end, if you
-    want the output to be up-to-date automatically.
+.. TODO: How to name a specific alias/front-end pointing to html4css1?
 
-  * Use a more specific writer name or front end, if you depend on stability
-    of the generated HTML code, e.g. because you use a custom style sheet or
-    post-processing that may break otherwise.
+   html4
+     | +1 short form of html4css1,
+     | -1 writer produces XHTML 1, not HTML 4
+   xhtml1
+     | +1 correct and short description of the output format.
+     | -1 may be confused with xhtml11 or xhtml (aliases for the
+          "new" XHTML 1.1. writer inheriting from html_plain).
 
-html_base
------------
 
-:aliases: html-common, html5 [#5]_
-:front-end: rst2html5.py_
-:config: `[html-base writer]`_
+.. _rst2html.py: tools.html#rst2html-py
+.. _[html4css1 writer]: config.html#html4css1-writer
+.. _html4css1.css: ../../docutils/writers/html4css1/html4css1.css
+
 
-The `html_base` module is both, basis for other HTML writers and a
-versatile writer for end-users or programmatic use. ⚠
+html_plain
+~~~~~~~~~~
+
+:aliases: html5_
+:front-end: rst2html5.py_
+:config: `[html-plain writer]`_
 
-It generates `polyglot HTML`_ output (compatible with HTML5_ and `XHTML 1
-Transitional`_). New features and elements will only be used if they are
-widely supported to make documents `viewable with any browser`_.
+The `html_plain` module is both, basis for other HTML writers and a
+versatile writer for end-users or programmatic use.
 
-Correct rendering depends on a CSS_ style sheet. Leaving out hard-coded
-formatting information from the HTML code allows adaption of the layout with
-`custom style sheets`_. The provided style sheets minimal.css_ and
-plain.css_ define required and optional styling rules respectively.
+The ``html_plain`` writer generates `polyglot HTML`_ output that is
+compatible with `HTML 5`_ and `XHTML 1 Transitional`_. New features and
+elements will only be used if they are widely supported to make documents
+`viewable with any browser`_.  There is no hard-coded formatting information
+in the HTML document. Correct rendering of elements not directly supported
+by HTML depends on a CSS_ style sheet. The provided style sheets
+minimal.css_ and plain.css_ define required and optional styling rules
+respectively. Adaption of the layout is possible with `custom style
+sheets`_.
 
 New in Docutils 0.13
 
-.. admonition:: TODO
+.. TODO
 
    Find the right name for this writer. Suggestions:
 
@@ -118,108 +142,52 @@ New in Docutils 0.13
    html-base
      -1 not only base class but also suited for end-users
 
-
 .. _rst2html5.py: tools.html#rst2html5-py
-.. _[html-base writer]: config.html#html-base-writer
-.. _minimal.css: ../../docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css
-.. _plain.css: ../../docutils/writers/html_base/plain.css
+.. _[html-plain writer]: config.html#html-plain-writer
+.. _minimal.css: ../../docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css
+.. _plain.css: ../../docutils/writers/html_plain/plain.css
 .. _custom style sheets: ../howto/html-stylesheets.html
 .. _viewable with any browser: http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign
 
-
-xhtml11
+Aliases
 ~~~~~~~
-:aliases:   xhtml, html4strict
-:front-end: rst2xhtml.py_
-:config:    `[xhtml11 writer]`_
 
-`XHTML 1.1`_ is the current version of the XML based `extensible Hypertext
-Markup Language`.
+html
+""""
 
-The `xhtml11` writer inherits from html_base_ and adds compatibility to the
-strict requirements of `XHTML 1.1`_:
+Currently, `html` is an alias for the html4css1_ writer.
 
-* There is no attribute "lang" (only "xml:lang").
+Suggestion
+  The alias `html` points to the "recommended Docutils HTML writer".
+  Its target may change with the development of HTML, browsers, Docutils, and
+  the web.
 
-* Enumerated lists don't support the 'start' attribute.
+  * Use `get_writer_by_name('html') or the ``rst2html.py`` front end, if you
+    want the output to be up-to-date automatically.
 
-  The style sheet xhtml11.css_ adds support for a "start" value for
-  enumerated lists via a CSS-counter. This allows also nested enumeration.
+  * Use a specific writer name or front end, if you depend on stability of
+    the generated HTML code, e.g. because you use a custom style sheet or
+    post-processing that may break otherwise.
 
-* ``<sup>`` and ``<sub>`` tags are not allowed in preformatted blocks
-  (``<pre>``).
+html4
+"""""
 
-The `math-output` `config setting`_ defaults to "MathML".
+The alias `html4` provides a stable shortcut for the html4css1_ writer.
 
 New in Docutils 0.13
 
-.. _rst2xhtml.py: tools.html#rst2html5-py
-.. _config setting:
-.. _[xhtml11 writer]: config.html#xhtml11-writer
-.. _xhtml11.css: ../../docutils/writers/xhtml11/xhtml11.css
-
-
-.. _`html5 writer`:
-
 html5
-~~~~~
-
-The writer name `html5` is reserved for a HTML writer that makes use of new
-features and objects defined in HTML5 but not (yet) fit for use in
-`html_base` because of limited browser support (like <video>, <aside>, or
-<section>).
-
-In Docutils 0.13, it is an alias to the html_base_ writer. ⚠
+"""""
 
+In Docutils 0.13, html5 is an alias to the html_plain_ writer.
 
-html4css1
----------
-
-:aliases:    html4 [#html4]_, html [#h]_
-:front-ends: rst2html.py_, rst2html4.py
-:config:     `[html4css1 writer]`_
-
-.. [#h] `html` may become an alias for html_base in a future release. ⚠
-
-The HTML Writer module, ``docutils/writers/html4css1.py``, started
-as a proof-of-concept reference implementation. It is the first Docutils
-writer and was up to release 0.13 the only official HTML writer.
-
-The output conforms to the `XHTML 1 Transitional`_ specification.
-Correct rendering depends on a CSS_ style sheet. A reference style sheet,
-`html4css1.css`_, is provided and used by default.
-
-Due to the closing of empty tags required in XML but not allowed in HTML 4,
-generated documents do not validate as `HTML 4.01 Transitional`_.
-However, they follow the `HTML Compatibility Guidelines`_ for proper
-rendering on most HTML user agents.
-
-To support the `Internet Explorer` [#IE]_ (with a market share of about 90%
-around 2002, the time this writer was written), documents are tagged as
-"text/html" (instead of "application/xhtml+xml") and contain some hard-coded
-formatting hints.
-
-.. [#IE] Conformance to `CSS 2.1`_ has been added in the IE 8 (2009), support
-   for XHTML in IE 9 (2011).
-
-.. [#html4] TODO: How to name a specific alias/front-end pointing to html4css1?
-
-   html4
-     | +1 short form of html4css1,
-     | -1 writer produces XHTML 1, not HTML 4
-   xhtml1
-     | +1 correct and short description of the output format.
-     | -1 may be confused with xhtml11 or xhtml (aliases for the
-          "new" XHTML 1.1. writer inheriting from html_base).
-
-
-.. _rst2html.py: tools.html#rst2html-py
-.. _[html4css1 writer]: config.html#html4css1-writer
-.. _html4css1.css: ../../docutils/writers/html4css1/html4css1.css
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+In future releases, `html5` may become a separate HTML writer that makes use
+of new features and objects defined in HTML5 but not (yet) fit for use in
+`html_plain`_ because of limited browser support (like <video>, <aside>, or
+<section>).
 
-The following three HTML writers inherit from `html4css1`:
+Special HTML writers
+--------------------
 
 pep_html
 ~~~~~~~~
@@ -228,11 +196,12 @@ pep_html
 :config:    `[pep_html writer]`_
 
 This is a special writer for the generation of `Python Enhancement
-Proposals`_ (PEPs). It adds some PEP-Specific
-Options, a style sheet and template. The front-end uses also a specialised
+Proposals`_ (PEPs). It inherits from html4css1_ and adds some `PEP-specific
+options`_, a style sheet and template. The front-end uses also a specialised
 reader.
 
 .. _rstpep2html.py: tools.html#rstpep2html-py
+.. _PEP-specific options:
 .. _[pep_html writer]: config.html#pep-html-writer
 .. _Python Enhancement Proposals: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/
 
@@ -243,9 +212,9 @@ s5_html
 :front-end: rst2s5.py_
 :config:    `[s5_html writer]`_
 
-The `s5` writer is used to prepare `Easy Slide Shows With reST & S5`_. It
-produces XHTML for use with S5_, the “Simple Standards-based Slide Show
-System” by Eric Meyer.
+The `s5` writer inherits from html4css1_. It produces XHTML for use with
+S5_, the “Simple Standards-based Slide Show System” by Eric Meyer.  See
+`Easy Slide Shows With reST & S5`_ for details.
 
 .. _rst2s5.py: tools.html#rst2s5-py
 .. _[s5_html writer]: config.html#s5-html-writer
@@ -254,15 +223,47 @@ System” by Eric Meyer.
 .. _theme: tools.html#themes
 
 
+HTML writers in the sandbox
+---------------------------
+
+There are two more HTML writers in the sandbox_:
+
+xhtml11
+~~~~~~~
+:aliases:   xhtml, html4strict
+:front-end: rst2xhtml.py
+:config:    `[xhtml11 writer]`
+
+`XHTML 1.1`_ is the current version of the XML based `extensible Hypertext
+Markup Language`.
+
+The `xhtml11` writer inherits from html_plain_ and adds compatibility to the
+strict requirements of `XHTML 1.1`_:
+
+* There is no attribute "lang" (only "xml:lang").
+
+* Enumerated lists don't support the 'start' attribute.
+
+  The style sheet xhtml11.css_ adds support for a "start" value for
+  enumerated lists via a CSS-counter. This allows also nested enumeration.
+
+* ``<sup>`` and ``<sub>`` tags are not allowed in preformatted blocks
+  (``<pre>``).
+
+The `math-output` `config setting`_ defaults to "MathML".
+
+.. _sandbox: ../dev/policies.html#the-sandbox
+.. _rst2xhtml.py: tools.html#rst2html5-py
+.. _config setting:
+.. _[xhtml11 writer]: config.html#xhtml11-writer
+.. _xhtml11.css: ../../docutils/writers/xhtml11/xhtml11.css
+
+
 html4trans
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 
 :front-end: rst2html_trans.py_
 
-Correct rendering of HTML+CSS requires considerable resources in form of
-program code, memory space and computation time. On older machines or in
-embedded devices this might pose a serious problem.
-
 The `HTML writer for lightweight browsers`_ lives in the Docutils sandbox
 (`sandbox/html4trans`_) since 2008. It removes the dependency on CSS. The
 output conforms to `XHTML 1 Transitional`_ and contains sufficient
@@ -277,9 +278,9 @@ has some drawbacks_.)
 
 
 HTML and CSS Versions
----------------------
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-_`HTML5`
+_`HTML 5`
    `HTML5, A vocabulary and associated APIs for HTML and XHTML`,
    W3C Recommendation, 28 October 2014.
    http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/
diff --git a/docutils/docs/user/links.txt b/docutils/docs/user/links.txt
index e798fc2e9..d5ecf8f8e 100644
--- a/docutils/docs/user/links.txt
+++ b/docutils/docs/user/links.txt
@@ -146,24 +146,41 @@ website generators and HTML variants
 
   It can generate complete web sites (interlinked and indexed HTML pages),
   ePub, PDF, and others [#]_ from a set of rst source files.
-  
+
   .. [#] see http://sphinx-doc.org/config.html#options-for-epub-output
+  .. _Sphinx: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/
 
 * Nikola_  static site generator, use restructured text by
   default.
 
+  .. _nikola:  http://getnikola.com/
+
+* Pelican_ is a static site generator (mainly for blogs). Articles/pages can
+  be written in reStructuredText or Markdown format.
+
+  .. _pelican: http://docs.getpelican.com
+
 * rst2ht_ by Oliver Rutherfurd, converts reStructuredText to an .ht
   template, for use with ht2html_.
 
+  .. _rst2ht: http://www.rutherfurd.net/articles/rst-ht2html.html
+  .. _ht2html: http://ht2html.sourceforge.net/
+
 * htmlnav_ by Gunnar Schwant, is an HTML writer which supports navigation
   bars.
 
+  .. _htmlnav: http://docutils.sf.net/sandbox/gschwant/htmlnav/
+
 * rest2web_, by Michael Foord, is a tool for creating web sites with
   reStructuredText.
 
+  .. _rest2web: http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/
+
 * rst2chm_ by Oliver Rutherfurd, generates Microsoft HTML Help files from
   reStructuredText files.
 
+  .. _rst2chm: http://www.rutherfurd.net/software/rst2chm/
+
 * `html4strict <http://docutils.sf.net/sandbox/html4strict/>`__
   produces XHTML that strictly conforms to the XHTML 1.0 specification.
 
@@ -175,22 +192,15 @@ website generators and HTML variants
 * A `simple HTML writer`_ by Bill Bumgarner that doesn't rely on CSS
   (stylesheets).
 
-.. _Sphinx: http://sphinx.pocoo.org/
-.. _nikola:  http://getnikola.com/
-.. _rst2ht: http://www.rutherfurd.net/articles/rst-ht2html.html
-.. _ht2html: http://ht2html.sourceforge.net/
-.. _htmlnav: http://docutils.sf.net/sandbox/gschwant/htmlnav/
-.. _rst2chm: http://www.rutherfurd.net/software/rst2chm/
-.. _rest2web: http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/
-.. _simple HTML writer: http://docutils.sf.net/sandbox/bbum/DocArticle/
+  .. _simple HTML writer: http://docutils.sf.net/sandbox/bbum/DocArticle/
 
 ePub
 ````
- 
+
 * The `rst2epub`_ project by Robert Wierschke converts simple
-  reStructuredText doucments into valid epub files. 
-  
-  .. simple but well structured with classes/modules for epub components, 
+  reStructuredText doucments into valid epub files.
+
+  .. simple but well structured with classes/modules for epub components,
      and a standard ``setup.py`` installation file.
 
 * rst2epub2_ by Matt Harrison includes the epublib (originally by Tim
@@ -262,6 +272,11 @@ Convert other formats to reStructuredText:
 * xhtml2rest_, written by Antonios Christofides, is a simple utility
   to convert XHTML to reStructuredText.
 
+* DashTable_ by Gustav Klopp converts HTML tables into reStructuredText.
+  Colspan and Rowspan supported!
+
+  .. _DashTable: https://github.com/gustavklopp/DashTable
+
 * Sphinx_ includes a `LaTeX to Rst converter
   <http://svn.python.org/projects/doctools/converter/>`__ in its source code
   (trimmed to importing the old Python docs).
diff --git a/docutils/docs/user/tools.txt b/docutils/docs/user/tools.txt
index 597bfed4f..47cfc490e 100644
--- a/docutils/docs/user/tools.txt
+++ b/docutils/docs/user/tools.txt
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ rst2html.py
 
 :Reader: Standalone
 :Parser: reStructuredText
-:Writer: html (html4css1_; this will change to hmtl-base_ in future)
+:Writer: html_ (html4css1_)
 
 The ``rst2html.py`` front end reads standalone reStructuredText source
 files and produces `XHTML 1.0 Transitional`_ output.
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ Stylesheets
 option).  A stylesheet is required for proper rendering.  The default
 stylesheet (``docutils/writers/html4css1/html4css1.css``, located in
 the installation directory) is provided for basic use.  To use
-different stylesheet(s), you must specify the stylesheets' locations
+different stylesheet(s), specify the stylesheets' location(s)
 as comma-separated list with the "``--stylesheet``" (for a URL)
 or "``--stylesheet-path``" (for a local file) command-line option,
 or with `configuration file`_ settings (e.g. ``./docutils.conf``
@@ -138,32 +138,24 @@ or ``~/.docutils``).  To experiment with styles, please see the
 
 __ ../howto/html-stylesheets.html
 .. _html4css1: html.html#html4css1
+.. _html: html.html#html
 
-rst2xhtml.py
---------------
-
-:Reader: Standalone
-:Parser: reStructuredText
-:Writer: xhtml (xhtml11)
-
-The ``rst2xhtml11.py`` front end reads standalone reStructuredText
-source files and produces clean `XHTML 1.1`_
-output. A CSS 2 stylesheet is required for proper rendering; a complete
-stylesheet is installed and used by default.
 
 rst2html5.py
 ------------
 
 :Reader: Standalone
 :Parser: reStructuredText
-:Writer: html5 (html-base_)
+:Writer: html5 (html_plain_)
 
 The ``rst2html5.py`` front end reads standalone reStructuredText source
 files and produces simple `HTML 5`_ output (compatible to `XHTML 1.0
-Transitional`_). A CSS 2 stylesheet is required for proper rendering; a
-complete stylesheet is installed and used by default.
+Transitional`_).
+Correct rendering of elements not directly supported by HTML depends on a
+CSS style sheet. The provided style sheets ``minimal.css`` and ``plain.css``
+define required and optional styling rules respectively.
 
-.. _html-base: html.html#html-base
+.. _html_plain: html.html#html-plain
 
 rstpep2html.py
 --------------
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/__init__.py b/docutils/docutils/writers/__init__.py
index 075c4c265..dc2497cd2 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/__init__.py
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/__init__.py
@@ -120,18 +120,18 @@ class UnfilteredWriter(Writer):
 
 
 _writer_aliases = {
-      'html': 'html4css1',  # will change to html_base some day
+      'html': 'html4css1',  # may change to html_plain some day
       'html4': 'html4css1',
-      'html5': 'html_base', # until a special HTML 5 writer is ready
+      'html5': 'html_plain', # until a special HTML 5 writer is ready
       'html4strict': 'xhtml11',
-      'html-base': 'html_base',
+      'html-plain': 'html_plain',
       'latex': 'latex2e',
       'pprint': 'pseudoxml',
       'pformat': 'pseudoxml',
       'pdf': 'rlpdf',
       's5': 's5_html',
       'xelatex': 'xetex',
-      'xhtml': 'xhtml11',
+      'xhtml': 'html_plain',
       'xhtml10': 'html4css1',
       'xml': 'docutils_xml'}
 
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/html4css1/__init__.py b/docutils/docutils/writers/html4css1/__init__.py
index d3e9ef9fc..ef22e33a6 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/html4css1/__init__.py
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/html4css1/__init__.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class Writer(writers.Writer):
         os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)),
         # for math.css
         os.path.abspath(os.path.join(
-            os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'html_base'))
+            os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'html_plain'))
        ]
 
     default_template = 'template.txt'
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/__init__.py b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/__init__.py
index 583e6aed7..583e6aed7 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/__init__.py
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/__init__.py
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/math.css b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/math.css
index e6eec6565..e6eec6565 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/math.css
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/math.css
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css
index df86a6199..df86a6199 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/plain.css b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/plain.css
index ba244eab9..ba244eab9 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/plain.css
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/plain.css
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/template.txt b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/template.txt
index 2591bce35..2591bce35 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/html_base/template.txt
+++ b/docutils/docutils/writers/html_plain/template.txt
diff --git a/docutils/setup.py b/docutils/setup.py
index df806e070..c96b852a3 100755
--- a/docutils/setup.py
+++ b/docutils/setup.py
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ what-you-see-is-what-you-get plaintext markup syntax.""", # wrap at col 60
                  'docutils.utils.math',
                  'docutils.writers',
                  'docutils.writers.html4css1',
-                 'docutils.writers.html_base',
+                 'docutils.writers.html_plain',
                  'docutils.writers.xhtml11',
                  'docutils.writers.pep_html',
                  'docutils.writers.s5_html',
@@ -146,11 +146,11 @@ what-you-see-is-what-you-get plaintext markup syntax.""", # wrap at col 60
                  ],
     'data_files': ([('docutils/parsers/rst/include',
                      glob.glob('docutils/parsers/rst/include/*.txt')),
-                    ('docutils/writers/html_base',
-                     ['docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css',
-                      'docutils/writers/html_base/plain.css',
-                      'docutils/writers/html_base/math.css',
-                      'docutils/writers/html_base/template.txt']),
+                    ('docutils/writers/html_plain',
+                     ['docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css',
+                      'docutils/writers/html_plain/plain.css',
+                      'docutils/writers/html_plain/math.css',
+                      'docutils/writers/html_plain/template.txt']),
                     ('docutils/writers/html4css1',
                      ['docutils/writers/html4css1/html4css1.css',
                       'docutils/writers/html4css1/template.txt']),
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html_base.html b/docutils/test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html_plain.html
index 7bfce7fca..eb8d2a4ec 100644
--- a/docutils/test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html_base.html
+++ b/docutils/test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_html_plain.html
@@ -1185,7 +1185,7 @@ with the default setting of <cite>field-name-limit: 14</cite>.</p>
 previous one but regarded &quot;short&quot; by html4css1.</p>
 </dd>
 </dl>
-<p>With <span class="docutils literal">html_base</span>, a <cite>field list</cite> is typeset as CSS-styled <cite>definition
+<p>With <span class="docutils literal">html_plain</span>, a <cite>field list</cite> is typeset as CSS-styled <cite>definition
 list</cite>. The default layout is similar to the look with <cite>html4css1</cite>:</p>
 <dl class="open field-list">
 <dt>A long field name</dt>
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/math.css b/docutils/test/functional/input/data/math.css
index e6eec6565..4e0ec724d 100644..120000
--- a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/math.css
+++ b/docutils/test/functional/input/data/math.css
@@ -1,276 +1 @@
-/*
-*   math2html: convert LaTeX equations to HTML output.
-*
-*   Copyright (C) 2009,2010 Alex Fernández
-*
-*   Released under the terms of the `2-Clause BSD license'_, in short:
-*   Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
-*   are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
-*   notice and this notice are preserved.
-*   This file is offered as-is, without any warranty.
-*
-* .. _2-Clause BSD license: http://www.spdx.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause
-*
-*   Based on eLyXer: convert LyX source files to HTML output.
-*   http://elyxer.nongnu.org/
-*/
-/* --end--
-* CSS file for LaTeX formulas.
-*/
-
-/* Formulas */
-.formula {
-	text-align: center;
-	font-family: "Droid Serif", "DejaVu Serif", "STIX", serif;
-	margin: 1.2em 0;
-}
-span.formula {
-	white-space: nowrap;
-}
-div.formula {
-	padding: 0.5ex;
-	margin-left: auto;
-	margin-right: auto;
-}
-
-/* Basic features */
-a.eqnumber {
-	display: inline-block;
-	float: right;
-	clear: right;
-	font-weight: bold;
-}
-span.unknown {
-	color: #800000;
-}
-span.ignored, span.arraydef {
-	display: none;
-}
-.formula i {
-	letter-spacing: 0.1ex;
-}
-
-/* Alignment */
-.align-left, .align-l {
-	text-align: left;
-}
-.align-right, .align-r {
-	text-align: right;
-}
-.align-center, .align-c {
-	text-align: center;
-}
-
-/* Structures */
-span.overline, span.bar {
-	text-decoration: overline;
-}
-.fraction, .fullfraction {
-	display: inline-block;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-	text-align: center;
-}
-.fraction .fraction {
-	font-size: 80%;
-	line-height: 100%;
-}
-span.numerator {
-	display: block;
-}
-span.denominator {
-	display: block;
-	padding: 0ex;
-	border-top: thin solid;
-}
-sup.numerator, sup.unit {
-	font-size: 70%;
-	vertical-align: 80%;
-}
-sub.denominator, sub.unit {
-	font-size: 70%;
-	vertical-align: -20%;
-}
-span.sqrt {
-	display: inline-block;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-	padding: 0.1ex;
-}
-sup.root {
-	font-size: 70%;
-	position: relative;
-	left: 1.4ex;
-}
-span.radical {
-	display: inline-block;
-	padding: 0ex;
-	font-size: 150%;
-	vertical-align: top;
-}
-span.root {
-	display: inline-block;
-	border-top: thin solid;
-	padding: 0ex;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-}
-span.symbol {
-	line-height: 125%;
-	font-size: 125%;
-}
-span.bigsymbol {
-	line-height: 150%;
-	font-size: 150%;
-}
-span.largesymbol {
-	font-size: 175%;
-}
-span.hugesymbol {
-	font-size: 200%;
-}
-span.scripts {
-	display: inline-table;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-}
-.script {
-	display: table-row;
-	text-align: left;
-	line-height: 150%;
-}
-span.limits {
-	display: inline-table;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-}
-.limit {
-	display: table-row;
-	line-height: 99%;
-}
-sup.limit, sub.limit {
-	line-height: 100%;
-}
-span.symbolover {
-	display: inline-block;
-	text-align: center;
-	position: relative;
-	float: right;
-	right: 100%;
-	bottom: 0.5em;
-	width: 0px;
-}
-span.withsymbol {
-	display: inline-block;
-}
-span.symbolunder {
-	display: inline-block;
-	text-align: center;
-	position: relative;
-	float: right;
-	right: 80%;
-	top: 0.3em;
-	width: 0px;
-}
-
-/* Environments */
-span.array, span.bracketcases, span.binomial, span.environment {
-	display: inline-table;
-	text-align: center;
-	border-collapse: collapse;
-	margin: 0em;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-}
-span.arrayrow, span.binomrow {
-	display: table-row;
-	padding: 0ex;
-	border: 0ex;
-}
-span.arraycell, span.bracket, span.case, span.binomcell, span.environmentcell {
-	display: table-cell;
-	padding: 0ex 0.2ex;
-	line-height: 99%;
-	border: 0ex;
-}
-/*
-* CSS file for LaTeX formulas, extra stuff:
-* binomials, vertical braces, stackrel, fonts and colors.
-*/
-
-/* Inline binomials */
-span.binom {
-	display: inline-block;
-	vertical-align: middle;
-	text-align: center;
-	font-size: 80%;
-}
-span.binomstack {
-	display: block;
-	padding: 0em;
-}
-
-/* Over- and underbraces */
-span.overbrace {
-	border-top: 2pt solid;
-}
-span.underbrace {
-	border-bottom: 2pt solid;
-}
-
-/* Stackrel */
-span.stackrel {
-	display: inline-block;
-	text-align: center;
-}
-span.upstackrel {
-	display: block;
-	padding: 0em;
-	font-size: 80%;
-	line-height: 64%;
-	position: relative;
-	top: 0.15em;
-
-}
-span.downstackrel {
-	display: block;
-	vertical-align: bottom;
-	padding: 0em;
-}
-
-/* Fonts */
-span.mathsf, span.textsf {
-	font-style: normal;
-	font-family: sans-serif;
-}
-span.mathrm, span.textrm {
-	font-style: normal;
-	font-family: serif;
-}
-span.text, span.textnormal {
-	font-style: normal;
-}
-span.textipa {
-	color: #008080;
-}
-span.fraktur {
-	font-family: "Lucida Blackletter", eufm10, blackletter;
-}
-span.blackboard {
-	font-family: Blackboard, msbm10, serif;
-}
-span.scriptfont {
-	font-family: "Monotype Corsiva", "Apple Chancery", "URW Chancery L", cursive;
-	font-style: italic;
-}
-
-/* Colors */
-span.colorbox {
-	display: inline-block;
-	padding: 5px;
-}
-span.fbox {
-	display: inline-block;
-	border: thin solid black;
-	padding: 2px;
-}
-span.boxed, span.framebox {
-	display: inline-block;
-	border: thin solid black;
-	padding: 5px;
-}
-
+../../../../docutils/writers/html_plain/math.css
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/minimal.css b/docutils/test/functional/input/data/minimal.css
index d1e1e8638..899b6bbba 120000
--- a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/minimal.css
+++ b/docutils/test/functional/input/data/minimal.css
@@ -1 +1 @@
-../../../../docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css
\ No newline at end of file
+../../../../docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/plain.css b/docutils/test/functional/input/data/plain.css
index 1f2ad9396..77def792e 120000
--- a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/plain.css
+++ b/docutils/test/functional/input/data/plain.css
@@ -1 +1 @@
-../../../../docutils/writers/html_base/plain.css
\ No newline at end of file
+../../../../docutils/writers/html_plain/plain.css
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/input/standalone_rst_html_base.txt b/docutils/test/functional/input/standalone_rst_html_plain.txt
index 67b832f37..d53486f42 100644
--- a/docutils/test/functional/input/standalone_rst_html_base.txt
+++ b/docutils/test/functional/input/standalone_rst_html_plain.txt
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ characters" but the field name uses a proportional font.
 :MMMMMMMMMMMMMM: a field name that is actually longer than the
                  previous one but regarded "short" by html4css1.
 
-With ``html_base``, a `field list` is typeset as CSS-styled `definition
+With ``html_plain``, a `field list` is typeset as CSS-styled `definition
 list`. The default layout is similar to the look with `html4css1`:
 
 .. class:: open
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/tests/math_output_mathml.py b/docutils/test/functional/tests/math_output_mathml.py
index 3e9149a98..dd1017746 100644
--- a/docutils/test/functional/tests/math_output_mathml.py
+++ b/docutils/test/functional/tests/math_output_mathml.py
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ test_destination = "math_output_mathml.xhtml"
 # Keyword parameters passed to publish_file.
 reader_name = "standalone"
 parser_name = "rst"
-writer_name = "html-base"
+writer_name = "html-plain"
 
 # Settings
 settings_overrides['math_output'] = 'MathML'
 # local copy of default stylesheet:
 # (test runs in ``docutils/test/``, we need relative path from there.)
-settings_overrides['stylesheet_dirs'] = ('.', 'functional/input/data')
+settings_overrides['stylesheet_dirs'] = ('.','functional/input/data')
diff --git a/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html4css1_misc.py b/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html4css1_misc.py
index 7bcb8d73b..f19f9e550 100755
--- a/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html4css1_misc.py
+++ b/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html4css1_misc.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class SettingsTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
         styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html4css1',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
         self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html4css1/html4css1.css', styles)
-        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_base/math.css', styles)
+        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_plain/math.css', styles)
 
     def test_custom_stylesheet_linked(self):
         # default + custom style sheet, linked
diff --git a/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html_base_misc.py b/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html_plain_misc.py
index f7db124bf..b69a967f3 100644
--- a/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html_base_misc.py
+++ b/docutils/test/test_writers/test_html_plain_misc.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class EncodingTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
             'stylesheet': '',
             '_disable_config': True,}
         result = core.publish_string(
-            u'EUR = \u20ac', writer_name='html_base',
+            u'EUR = \u20ac', writer_name='html_plain',
             settings_overrides=settings_overrides)
         # Encoding a euro sign with latin1 doesn't work, so the
         # xmlcharrefreplace handler is used.
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ first term:
 second term:
   second def
 """
-        result = core.publish_string(data, writer_name='html_base',
+        result = core.publish_string(data, writer_name='html_plain',
                             settings_overrides=self.settings_overrides)
         self.assertIn(b('<dt class="for the second item">second term:</dt>'),
                       result)
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ first term:
 second term:
   second def
 """
-        result = core.publish_string(data, writer_name='html_base',
+        result = core.publish_string(data, writer_name='html_plain',
                             settings_overrides=self.settings_overrides)
         self.assertIn(b('<dt id="second-item">second term:</dt>'),
                       result)
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class SettingsTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
     def test_default_stylesheet(self):
         # default style sheet, embedded
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
         self.assertIn('Minimal style sheet '
                       'for the HTML output of Docutils.', styles)
@@ -88,19 +88,19 @@ class SettingsTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
         # default style sheet, linked
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'embed_stylesheet': False}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
-        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css', styles)
+        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css', styles)
 
     def test_math_stylesheet_linked(self):
         # default + math style sheet, linked
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'embed_stylesheet': False,
                       'stylesheet_path': 'minimal.css, math.css'}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
-        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css', styles)
-        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_base/math.css', styles)
+        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css', styles)
+        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_plain/math.css', styles)
 
     def test_custom_stylesheet_linked(self):
         # default + custom style sheet, linked
@@ -108,30 +108,30 @@ class SettingsTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
                       'embed_stylesheet': False,
                       'stylesheet_path': 'minimal.css, '
                                          'data/ham.css'}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
-        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css', styles)
+        self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css', styles)
         self.assertIn('href="data/ham.css"', styles)
 
     def test_custom_stylesheet_dir(self):
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'embed_stylesheet': False,
-                      'stylesheet_dirs': ('../docutils/writers/html_base/',
+                      'stylesheet_dirs': ('../docutils/writers/html_plain/',
                                           'data'),
                       'stylesheet_path': 'minimal.css, ham.css'}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
-        if os.path.isdir('../docutils/writers/html_base/'):
-            self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_base/minimal.css', styles)
+        if os.path.isdir('../docutils/writers/html_plain/'):
+            self.assertIn('docutils/writers/html_plain/minimal.css', styles)
         self.assertIn('href="data/ham.css"', styles)
 
     def test_custom_stylesheet_dir_embedded(self):
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'embed_stylesheet': True,
-                      'stylesheet_dirs': ('../docutils/writers/html_base/',
+                      'stylesheet_dirs': ('../docutils/writers/html_plain/',
                                           'data'),
                       'stylesheet_path': 'ham.css'}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
         self.assertIn('dl.docutils dd {\n  margin-bottom: 0.5em }', styles)
 
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class MathTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
     def test_math_output_default(self):
         # HTML with math.css stylesheet (since 0.11)
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
                                   settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
         self.assertIn('convert LaTeX equations to HTML output.', styles)
 
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ class MathTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
         # use default MathJax URL
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'math_output': 'MathJax'}
-        head = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        head = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
             settings_overrides=mysettings)['head']
         self.assertIn(self.mathjax_script % self.default_mathjax_url, head)
 
@@ -168,14 +168,14 @@ class MathTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'math_output':
                       'mathjax %s' % self.custom_mathjax_url}
-        head = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        head = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
             settings_overrides=mysettings)['head']
         self.assertIn(self.mathjax_script % self.custom_mathjax_url, head)
 
     def test_math_output_html(self):
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'math_output': 'HTML'}
-        head = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        head = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
             settings_overrides=mysettings)['head']
         # There should be no MathJax script when math_output is not MathJax
         self.assertNotIn('MathJax.js', head)
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ class MathTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
                       'math_output': 'HTML math.css,custom/style.css',
                       'stylesheet_dirs': ('.', 'functional/input/data'),
                       'embed_stylesheet': False}
-        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_base',
+        styles = core.publish_parts(self.data, writer_name='html_plain',
             settings_overrides=mysettings)['stylesheet']
         self.assertEqual(u"""\
 <link rel="stylesheet" href="functional/input/data/minimal.css" type="text/css" />
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ class MathTestCase(DocutilsTestSupport.StandardTestCase):
         mysettings = {'_disable_config': True,
                       'math_output': 'MathJax'}
         # There should be no math script when text does not contain math
-        head = core.publish_parts('No math.', writer_name='html_base')['head']
+        head = core.publish_parts('No math.', writer_name='html_plain')['head']
         self.assertNotIn('MathJax', head)
 
 
diff --git a/sandbox/html4strict/README.txt b/sandbox/html4strict/README.txt
index 984a8f653..3efd0712f 100644
--- a/sandbox/html4strict/README.txt
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/README.txt
@@ -79,27 +79,47 @@ This writer is for you, if you
 Usage
 =====
 
-For an example of programmatic use, see the `minimal front end to the
-Docutils Publisher, producing valid XHTML 1.1`
-<../../docutils/tools/rst2xhtml11.py>`_.
+The `rst2xhtml.py`_ front end reads standalone reStructuredText
+source files and produces clean `XHTML 1.1`_
+output. A CSS 2 stylesheet is required for proper rendering; a complete
+stylesheet is installed and used by default.
 
-This wrapper can called from the command line (when it is installed in the
-BINARY PATH):
+:Reader: Standalone
+:Parser: reStructuredText
+:Writer: xhtml (xhtml11)
 
-Comman line use::
+This wrapper can be called from the command line (when it is installed in the
+BINARY PATH)::
 
   rst2xhtml11.py [options] [<source> [<destination>]]
 
 The full usage text can be obtained with the ``--help`` option.
 
 
+.. For an example of programmatic use, see the `minimal front end to the
+   Docutils Publisher, producing valid XHTML 1.1`
+   <../../docutils/tools/rst2xhtml11.py>`_.
+
 
 Implementation
 ==============
 
-The writer module subclasses the ``html4css1.Writer`` and
-``html4css1.HTMLTranslator`` classes. Some methods are overwritten to
-replace deprecated HTML constructs or hard coded formatting.
+The writer module subclasses the ``html_plain.Writer`` and
+``html_plain.HTMLTranslator`` classes and adds compatibility to the strict
+requirements of `XHTML 1.1`_:
+
+* There is no attribute "lang" (only "xml:lang").
+
+* Enumerated lists don't support the 'start' attribute.
+
+  The style sheet xhtml11.css_ adds support for a "start" value for
+  enumerated lists via a CSS-counter. This allows also nested enumeration.
+
+* ``<sup>`` and ``<sub>`` tags are not allowed in preformatted blocks
+  (``<pre>``).
+
+The `math-output` `config setting`_ defaults to "MathML".
+
 
 The xhtml11.css style sheet extends the standard layout for
 CSS2-conforming HTML browsers.
@@ -402,3 +422,9 @@ References
   cascading style sheet by a lightweight html browser
   (e.g. `Dillo <http://www.dillo.org>`__ or the console browser
   `elinks <http://elinks.cz>`__).
+
+_`XHTML 1.1`
+   `XHTML™ 1.1 - Module-based XHTML - Second Edition`,
+   W3C Recommendation, 23 November 2010.
+   http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/
+
diff --git a/docutils/tools/rst2xhtml11.py b/sandbox/html4strict/rst2xhtml11.py
index ab700a27c..ab700a27c 100755
--- a/docutils/tools/rst2xhtml11.py
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/rst2xhtml11.py
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/tests/standalone_rst_xhtml11.py b/sandbox/html4strict/test/standalone_rst_xhtml11.py
index c8925ac9c..c8925ac9c 100644
--- a/docutils/test/functional/tests/standalone_rst_xhtml11.py
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/test/standalone_rst_xhtml11.py
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/input/standalone_rst_xhtml11.txt b/sandbox/html4strict/test/standalone_rst_xhtml11.txt
index b5ec4242f..b5ec4242f 100644
--- a/docutils/test/functional/input/standalone_rst_xhtml11.txt
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/test/standalone_rst_xhtml11.txt
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_xhtml11.xhtml b/sandbox/html4strict/test/standalone_rst_xhtml11.xhtml
index 190e27204..190e27204 100644
--- a/docutils/test/functional/expected/standalone_rst_xhtml11.xhtml
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/test/standalone_rst_xhtml11.xhtml
diff --git a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/xhtml11.css b/sandbox/html4strict/test/xhtml11.css
index 9d6083d54..9d6083d54 120000
--- a/docutils/test/functional/input/data/xhtml11.css
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/test/xhtml11.css
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/xhtml11/__init__.py b/sandbox/html4strict/xhtml11/__init__.py
index 2664eef8f..2664eef8f 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/xhtml11/__init__.py
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/xhtml11/__init__.py
diff --git a/docutils/docutils/writers/xhtml11/xhtml11.css b/sandbox/html4strict/xhtml11/xhtml11.css
index 8daabdd91..8daabdd91 100644
--- a/docutils/docutils/writers/xhtml11/xhtml11.css
+++ b/sandbox/html4strict/xhtml11/xhtml11.css