I know that everyone has been attempting to draw connections between xml, xsql, html, and XSLT, but until I read the webpage that Maulin suggested, I didn’t really get it. I think that I do now, and here is my attempt to justify it to myself. Please correct me if I am wrong at any point:
- XML is a simplified form of SGML. SGML is a universal standard for defining electronic documents, but it is very complex and cumbersome to use, therefore, we use XML instead.
- XML is and isn’t a mark-up language
o it is a mark-up language in the sense that if describes, organizes, and stores data but doesn’t process it.
o It is not a mark-up language in the sense that it’s a meta-language, which is flexible so that you can customize it to fit differing needs.
- XML is useful in the sense that data stored in XML format can be easily queried via XSQL. XML can also be transferred between information systems.
- HTML is a form of XML.
- HTML is very fixed and does not allow much flexibility. The structure and naming conventions are very rigid, which has a lot to do with why XML is replacing it.
- HTML tells browsers how to display a page where as XML does not. You need a style sheet such as CSS to complement XML in order to tell the browser how to display a page.
- Another alternative is to utilize XSLT to turn XML into html, either in the server or the client side. This is effective since all web browsers know how to display HTML.
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