xml| problem these days, almost everyone is talking about XML (extensible Markup Language), but few people really understand what it means. The proponents of XML believe that it solves all the problems that HTML cannot solve, and allows the data to be exchanged flexibly between different operating systems or applications. Indeed, all observers agree that XML will trigger a revolution in content publishing and knowledge exchange. Whoever enters the field first will be able to gain a great profit.
Here are 20 hot questions about XML that will make you an XML "expert", or at least allow you to look at the direction of XML in the future.
1 What is XML? How is the relationship between the OSD and the CDF and XML?
Why is 2 XML important? 12 e-commerce (e-commerce) and XML?
3 What is the connection between SGML, HTML, and XML? Cascading styles in the XML?
4 How do I implement XML? How does XML improve hyperlinks?
5 What is a file type definition (DTD)? Do you support XML on 15 servers?
6 What is a fully formatted and valid file? 16 who should learn XML?
7 How do I read XML in a browser? 17 What tools can I use to write XML?
8 What is the connection between RDF and XML? Internationalization of XML?
9 How do I implement XML in Netscape browser? Where is the future of XML?
How do you implement XML in Microsoft browsers? 20 where can I learn more XML knowledge?
1. What is XML?
The XML represents the extended identity language (extensible Markup Language). Led by the world Wide Web Consortium, XML became a formal specification in the middle of the February.
XML developers will tell you that XML is not a language, but a system that defines other languages. You may have heard of it, or used one of these languages,--such as Microsoft's Channel Definition Format (CDF), which supports push technology.
The "common syntax for expressing the structure of the data" is called the "XML", which is engaged in the work of XML-related recommendations. Structured data refers to its content, meaning, or application of tagged data. For example, the <H1> tag in HTML specifies that the text is a font and size, and the markup of the XML clearly determines the kind of information: the <BYLINE> tag identifies the author of the document, and the <PRICE> tag can include the cost of a project in an inventory list .
By separating the structure, content, and presentation, the same XML source document is written only once, and can be expressed in different ways: on a computer screen, on a mobile phone display, on a device that serves the blind, and so on. It can work on any communication product that may be developed. An XML document can therefore survive longer than the author and display technology when it is written.
So, XML will not be limited to the Internet, for example, it can serve the entire publishing industry, especially for people who want to make documents that can appear on multiple media. Some large document publishers that use standard generalized Markup Language (SGML) for years will turn to XML. Also, platform-independent XML is developed for the web, which is where it will be most influential.
Dom
The real strength of XML in the Web is how it interacts with the document Object Model (DOM). A DOM is an interface that defines the mechanism for accessing data in a document.
Using DOM, programmers can write dynamic content in a standard way. In other words, they can use it to make certain parts of the browser's document tree behave in a certain way, for example, to produce a small effect, and when the user moves the mouse over the text, the text becomes blue. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer all have their own DOM, but they all say they will support the standard DOM of the consortium in their next version of browsers.
Why is 2.XML important?
The story between Web leaders is content supremacy. Unfortunately, content is often closely linked to its performance. How many times have you encountered a small hint on a website, "preferably displayed at 800x600 pixel resolution"?
XML will help solve these problems, because the Site Builder does not have to specify where to display, but rather to indicate the structure of the document. For example, you can explain the title of the document, the author, the list of associated documents, and so on. Then, any device with an XML browser can give the document version that works best for it, and it can be a handheld computer, a sticky box, or a high-speed workstation.
However, perhaps the best feature of XML is its intrinsic scalability. Companies and organizations can extend XML to meet new challenges and applications. An xml-based language is already in use-Microsoft's Channel Definition Format (CDF)-and more will appear, including Resource Definition format (RDF) and Open Software Descrip tion (OSD).
XML also promises to be a standard mechanism for exchanging data and documents. For example, XML can be a way for different vendor databases to exchange information over the Internet. It's still a little early to determine exactly where the XML is headed. But the possibilities are awesome, which is one of the main reasons why there is so much excitement around XML.
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What is the connection between 3.SGML, HTML, and XML?
Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) is a way of expressing data in word processing applications. It has been around for more than 10 of years, and XML and HTML are all document forms developed from SGML. Therefore, they all have something in common, such as the use of similar grammars and parenthesized markers. But HTML is an application of SGML, and XML is a subset of SGML.
The difference is important. Basically HTML cannot be used to define new applications, and XML can. For example, Resource Description format (RDF) and Channel Description format (CDF) are applications that use XML definitions. XML and HTML are more like cousins than brothers.
In fact, XML and SGML are compatible-XML documents can be read by any SGML production or browsing tool. However, XML is not as complex as SGML, which is designed for limited-bandwidth networks, such as the Internet. XML specification partner Tim Bray says XML is designed to take advantage of SGML, remove complex parts, keep it lightweight, and work on the web.
HTML,SGML and XML will continue to be used in their proper place, and none of them will make the other one obsolete. HTML is still the easiest way to publish data quickly on the web, most short-term data, such as meeting agendas or advertising brochures. If data is used for long periods of time and more structures are needed, web builders will be willing to use XML. Unlike HTML and XML, SGML may never be widely accepted on the internet because it has never been designed or optimized for the needs of a network protocol. For high-end, complex-structure publishing applications, SGML will continue to apply.
4. How do I implement XML?
XML will be applied in several different ways. One is to exchange data between people, such as from a Web server to a user's browser. The other is to exchange data between different applications, or between machines.
In these cases, you may need a three-tier architecture: A backend database, a middle-tier server for data processing logic, and a client for further data display and processing. A database can receive information from multiple data sources and may already be XML-formatted data. The middle tier then gathers data and publishes it on the final presentation layer.
Now, web pages sometimes send--cnet news.com in this way to publish data from a database. But to get a new view of a page, such as News.com's new "printer-friendly" option, the server must produce a new page. An appropriately formatted XML document will allow client applications to modify the presentation of documents for different media, such as printers.
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5. What is a DTD?
A document type definition (DTD) is a set of syntax rules about markers. It tells you which tags you can use in your document, what order they should appear in, which tags can appear in other markers, which tags have attributes, and so on. The DTD was originally developed for use with SGML, it can be part of an XML document, but it is usually a separate document or a series of documents
Because XML itself is not a language, but a system for defining languages, it does not have a generic DTD like HTML. Conversely, industries or organizations that want to use XML for data exchange can define their own DTDs.
If an organization wants to use XML to identify documents that are used internally only, it can create its own private DTD. For example, Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition has a DTD detailing each edition, including information about pages, articles, summaries, branding under headings, and so on. The publication currently uses the SGML DTD (called Dow Jones Markup Language), but it is also developing an XML version.
The DTD is not uncontroversial. Some people feel it adds real value to business, and some feel it limits creativity. Others think DTDs are useful, but not enough. Microsoft is trying to solve the previous complaint with its XML data proposal, but critics say the improvements should be done in the DTD specification itself.
Microsoft's schema
Some vendors, including Microsoft, have proposed a way to replace DTDs, called schemas. They have submitted it to the consortium as XML data. Like DTDs, schemas provide the rules of the document, and indicate what markers, the attributes of the markers, the links between them, and so on.
However, unlike DTDs, schemas can define data types. For example, a DTD might have a tag <price>, and the content between the markers could be a number or a string of characters. Schemas can specify that only numbers are entered.
This method obviously has its advantages, especially for applications, objects, or data transfer between databases. The only question is whether it will become a DTD specification or an extension of XML.
6. What is a fully formatted and valid document?
There are basically two types of related XML documents: well constructed and effective. Well-Formed XML documents conform to the general rules of XML syntax, which are stricter than HTML and SGML. The character data for XML is never hung there, without some sort of end identifier, or an end identifier that appears as a <MYTAG></MYTAG> pair, or a special empty element tag with a slash in front of the right bracket, such as <mytag/ >; The XML identity always begins with a left-pointed bracket or &; The element type and attribute names are case-sensitive; attributes require quotes; Wait a minute.
A valid XML document adheres to a specific document type definition (DTD). The work of confirming the correctness of XML documents is mainly borne by the production and publishing tools, while the XML browser only needs to check the good structure of the XML document. In this way, the parser in the tooling has to check for structural good and validity, and the browser only needs to look for well-formed XML.
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7 How do I read XML in a browser?
The tools for reading XML documents are generally called XML parsers, although their more formal names are XML processors. The XML processor transmits data to the application software for making, publishing, querying, or displaying. XML does not provide application interfaces (APIs) to applications, it simply passes data to the application software. XML processors do not parse data that is not well constructed. Netscape and Microsoft have both included XML parsers in their browsers, or are planning to include them in the browser.
The XML Developer community provides a free XML reader and parser to apply to application software or XML production software:
Textuality's Lark, one of the authors of the XML specification.
Microstar Software's ælfred, a java-based parser.
The Datachannel DXP, formerly known as the NXP, or the Norbert (Mikula) XML parser that has been added to the API.
8 What is the connection between RDF and XML?
XML applications are specific languages if XML is a language-speaking capability. The Resource description format (Resource Description format RDF) is an application that uses XML syntax as a data modeling language.
RDF is a way to describe and access data. This means that RDF is about data, or metadata. In the web, these meta data will be used to establish standard site maps, more accurate search results, and hierarchical thematic indexing.
RDF also allows smart bookmarks, which change as the indexed Web page changes. It will be useful if you keep track of sites that are regularly updated, such as CNET's news.com.
For Web site builders, it is not difficult to establish metadata about the content of their Web sites that can be referenced by search engines. We will soon have commercially available software to automatically generate RDF files for a given site.
XML metadata will also be active in describing and evaluating the data market. There are a number of rating agencies that appear online, assessing everything from sites that protect children to safety, to best film or wine sites. RDF describes the syntax of levels that a rating agency can use. People will choose the rating agencies that have the most appropriate vocabulary, which refers to a particular set of terms used by the rating agencies to rank different types of content-from sex and violence to wine acidity.
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9 How do I implement XML in Netscape browser?
Netscape will support XML metadata in Communicator/navigator 5.0 with a delivery part code-named Aurora. Aurora uses RDF to get what Netscape says is "full integration of desktop information."
Aurora locates and manages information between the network, the desktop, and the database. It will appear on the desktop as the interface of the Window menu, aggregating pointers to resources such as current items, research topics, or daily activities. RDF enables Aurora's navigation bar to point to local files for different data types (word-processing documents, tabular data, e-mail messages, database content), and to resources on the Internet or intranet servers (results of searches and queries, bookmark links, and so on).
An XML parser that reads RDF will be part of the Netscape version 5.0 browser and will appear in a beta release before the final product is delivered. In addition to this initial RDF implementation, Netscape is planning to include a generic XML parser in the browser, and its browsers can work with other XML applications, such as Shakespeare markup (an early XML application software), chemical Markup Language (CML), and MathML, a mathematical identification language that is being recommended by the consortium.
"We're going to make Navigator an XML platform," R.V, Netscape's principle engineer. Guha said. Guha originally developed MCF (Metacontent Format), MCF later joined the RDF specification.
How do you implement XML in Microsoft browsers?
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 is the first Web browser to implement XML. Microsoft offers a pair of XML processors: the parser that the browser carries with C + +, and the source code of a Java parser that Web builders can download and join their own applications.
The Java parser is a valid parser, meaning that it checks against a document type definition (DTD) or schema. To improve performance, the browser's C + + version of the parser is a not-valid parser.
According to Steve Sklepowich, Microsoft's product manager, both parsers are "generic" because they do not rely on specific XML applications, such as channel Definition Format. Because of the separation of XML data from its performance, the ability to actually display XML in a Web browser itself requires style sheet, such as XSL (extensible Style Language).
At the same time, Microsoft used what it called the XML Data Source Object, or XML DSO. It applies dynamic HTML data binding capabilities, linking the XML data at one end to the HTML data at the other end. (For examples of data bundles, you can view the builder.com Browser playground.) IE 4.0 accesses the XML document, queries the data, and then displays it as HTML.
Microsoft also uses the XML Object Model (XML OM) to enable developers to interact with XML data in the browser. It is implemented by showing HTML as an object based on the Document Object Model (DOM), although HTML and DOM are not directly compatible. The DOM lets scripts and programs access structured XML data.
Sklepowich says that while at Microsoft, where the focus of XML is in the browser, XML will eventually appear in "Wherever HTML already appears". CEO Bill Gates has publicly announced that the future version of Microsoft Office will support XML, and that the company plans to support e-mail packages and standards for making XML tools.
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How is the relationship between the OSD and the CDF and XML?
The Channel Definition Format (CDF) and Open Software Description (OSD) are two XML applications supported by Microsoft. With its XML parser, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 reads the CDF file to drive and control the pages brought by the push channel. Based on the work done with Resource Definition Format (RDF), the CDF proposal was recently handed over to the consortium to exploit the capabilities of RDF to show the links between different data elements.
Open Software Description is a glossary for describing software parts, with syntax such as dependencies, versions, and platforms. The OSD describes how to represent the characteristics of a part and how to install the part on your computer. It can be used to download a complete package, but it is primarily designed for incremental updates. The OSD works alone or works with the CDF to define the application channel.
The OSD recommends that a group of vendors led by Microsoft and marimba be available to the consortium in August 1997.
12 e-commerce (e-commerce) and XML?
For more than four years, CommerceNet, the 500-member nonprofit online business Association, is working to help E-commerce products and systems work together. The concept is to allow information to be exchanged between different directories, from the directory to the payment system, and between payment systems. XML has been found to help implement these concepts in two important ways: content definition and information exchange.
Content definition: CommerceNet is defining data elements that are common to a variety of business transactions. This thing called Commerce Core will define how to label things such as company name, address, price, terms, and quantity.
Information exchange: Open, text-based XML is ideal for exchanging transactional information between servers. CommerceNet proposes to use xml-based Common Business Language (CBL) to describe product and service catalog software, metadata about business rules and systems, and software for tables and messages. Many cbl are taken from the existing Electronic Data interchange (EDI) dictionary, an EDI dictionary that recognizes recognized terms such as invoices and purchase orders. But CBL beyond EDI's business-to-business focus, which includes retail services and horizontal supply chains-from suppliers to wholesalers to retailers.
One such CBL application is the Product information Exchange (PIX) specification that is used to make catalogs interoperable. CommerceNet designs pix to help suppliers and their distributors to exchange product data more easily.
The long-term goal is for industrial organizations-not commercenet--to use CBL as a common basis for a particular DTD. Some initial attempts to focus on industry have been announced:
Open Buying on the Internet (OBI): A standard for international commercial shopping across the Internet. OBI is based on current Internet standards, such as HTML, SSL (for Security), SET (for credit card transactions), and X.509 (for digital authentication). Obi's supporters are Commerce one, Connect, InteliSys, Interworld, Microsoft, Netscape, Open Market, and Oracle.
Open Trading Protocol (OTP): a consistent, interoperable environment for selling to consumers on the web. Rules will include how to cut prices from promotions, payment options, to product shipping, reception and problem solving. OTP by MasterCard International, DigiCash, CyberCash, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, At&t Universal card, Netscape, Royal Bank of Canada, and some other financial institutions and technology companies support.
Internet Content and Exchange (ICE): Vignette, Firefly Network, and some other companies-including Microsoft-are developing a specification called ICE that allows you to exchange online assets between sites, whether it's content, application program, or meta data. ICE will use existing standards, including OPS/P3P (for reliable exchange of personal data), CDF, OSD, Xml-data, and RDF.
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Cascading styles in the XML?
Because XML separates content from performance, web builders need new ways to control design, display, and output. Style sheet is the answer to the question. Currently, there are three kinds of style sheet available for XML:
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Extensible Style Language (XSL)
Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL).
If the version 5.0 browser supports XML, XML's support for existing CSS standards will address most of the basic style and page issues. But CSS may not be strong enough for professional publishers. So, at the other end, there is Dsssl, a popular ISO (International Standards Organization) standard in high-end publishers using SGML. However, Dsssl is complex, and the print document management it handles is rarely useful on the web.
The Extensible Style Language (XSL) is now left with the Style-sheet written specifically for XML. XSL is now presented to the consortium as a proposal that gives Web developers and users more flexibility in performance than HTML. For example, HTML <H2> identifiers are basically the same on all browsers, but XSL lets developers specify how their page elements behave (although users can override them in their personal settings).
XSL is more powerful than CSS because it enables Web builders to create documents that dynamically alter their performance. For example, you can include a program statement that says "If an XML element has a property of 10, it is green, otherwise it is black." Or you can label a paragraph with "internal use only" as a property so it does not appear in some cases. XSL is designed for scripting languages such as JavaScript.
How does XML improve hyperlinks?
XML hyperlinks have some new features over basic HTML-style hyperlinks, including the ability to create "smart" links without having to write many JavaScript code. And in XML, the link itself becomes an object, and can be managed like any other object. The original link specification--xll, or XML link language, is being divided into two different specifications: XPointer and XLink.
XPointer: In HTML, to link to the middle of a page, the page author must add a positional identifier there. With XPointer, you Can "fetch" (not "connect to") any part of the other person's text. Obviously, this will help to work on legal documents, scientific and academic papers, and even the standard of the consortium!
XLink: When a user clicks on an HTML hyperlink, the current page is replaced by the file being connected to. XLink the Web creator to add behavior to the link. For example, now you have to use some JavaScript to bring up a separate window at the link, but XLink lets the Web creator encode the link to perform a series of actions, including a menu that pops up a link selection.
Another application can be a pop-up dialog box, possibly a warning to users that they are about to update the database. The link pop-up menu may require the user to click a box to indicate that they accept the obligation before further processing. Now, implementing such a feature will write a lot of scripting code.
XML also allows Web founders to create extended Link that works like a web-ring, a web-ring that you choose to navigate through the "Next/previous" web site group on the same subject. For linked site tables that are too long for pop-up menus, Web founders can create a linked table that varies from site to page. Users can click on an icon to automatically transfer to the next member of the ring. Now this functionality requires CGI scripts, and extended links provides a standard, non-proprietary way to establish resource linkages.
There are still more problems to be addressed, particularly in the area of behavioural policy. There must be a way to reconcile the following three relationships: Document authors ' proposed behavior for linking, the way users prefer to display linked information, and whether and when the user's will is ignored.
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Do you support XML on 15 servers?
XML is designed to be used as a storage format for long, high-value documents. XML does not just allow you to define identifiers, it also allows you to define the storage structure of the document. An HTML document exists only in one file, and an XML document can consist of multiple files (called entities) that are stored in different locations. This presents the concept of an XML server as a document repository.
The server software vendor is already supporting XML:
Enigma, Insight 4.0
This is a professional electronic publishing software solution that provides publishers with large documents. The Enigma sgml/xml Style Sheet Editor, now bundled with insight, can also be provided as an independent product.
Hynet Technologies, Digital Library System
Digital Library System (DLS) manages documents and document parts as standard software objects, allowing the introduction of documents created in Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Word, or sgml/xml files.
Inso, Dynatext Professional Publishing System
This is a software that indexes, searches, and makes scripts that can work on Windows NT 3.51 or 4.0, or Microsoft Internet information Server and Netscape on Sun Solaris 2.5 Enterprise and FastTrack servers.
Open Market, Folio
Open Market's Folio 4 information management and delivery product introduces an XML document to an indexed database to deliver content on an IP network, or to send content to a CD-ROM. In January, open market announced enhanced support for XML, Allows documents to be indexed and secured in their own format. At the same time, folio products will be able to interoperate with other standards-based production solutions that parse and generate XML documents. Its products include Folio sitedirector (distribution information), Folio Securepublish (transaction management software), and Folio Publisher (Electronic publishing).
WebMethods, Web automation Server
WEB Automation Server helps companies combine browser-based applications with data from other application software. It is an xml-based server that uses WebMethods's own widl (Web Interface Definition Language) for Web data exchange between machines. (The company has handed Widl to the world Wide Web Consortium as a standard proposal.)
16 who should learn XML?
All web-makers need to know enough about XML to decide whether to use it. E-commerce sites and sites that manage a large number of documents in a database are the obvious preferred objects. Managers may not need to learn XML syntax or how to build DTDs, they still have to understand the potential of XML and take advantage of it.
If the ultimate goal is simply to get people to read the information, HTML will suffice to satisfy the requirement of identifying information. But if you want to prepare for automating data processing, you must consider incorporating XML into your publishing system.
Not every HTML producer working on a Web site must be an XML producer, but some employees should be proficient in xml--especially when the site's work object is data and documentation that is worth managing for future use.
Of course, the functionality of XML also means complexity-some web-makers have found that they can master the basics of HTML in a few days, and they may take weeks to adapt to XML. Only you can decide whether it is worthwhile to spend the time.
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17 What tools can I use to write XML?
Fortunately, Web founders do not have to rely entirely on themselves to create XML from scratch. The market already has tools for creating, managing, and sending XML, and some companies are also developing them.
Adobe: In the middle of 1998, Adobe will introduce a transitional version of FrameMaker and FRAMEMAKER+SGML that can be exported to XML. The full version of these products will be able to enter XML. Adobe has an XML workgroup representing the XLink, and Adobe is also involved in the work of the cascading Style sheets and RDF, so we can expect that these technologies will appear in Adobe's future offerings.
Allaire:homesite 4.0 and Cold Fusion 4.0 are expected to be produced this summer, and they will support XML, including style sheets. A CDF add-on software has been provided in HomeSite 3.0.
ArborText: ArborText, who worked long in the SGML field, released the XML styler in January, a free java-based xsl editor. Its graphical user interface allows us to edit without knowing the XML syntax. In the future, ArborText will integrate XML Styler into Adept, adept is the XML production tool that the company provides for print publishing.
Datachannel: A free, java-based, efficient parser called DXP (Datachannel XML Parser based on Norbert Mikula). Can be obtained from the company's Web site. Its new release is the free XML Toolkit, the XML development environment, which includes a set of widgets to help people start learning and apply XML.
Inso: The company offers a publishing solution called "The first integrated, End-to-end, create, transform, store, manage, index, query XML content, publish it to the Web, CD-ROM, and printers." Its products include Dynatag 4.0, Dynabase 3.0, Dynatext 3.1, and the attached tool dynaweb.
The next version of the intranet Solutions:Intra.doc Management system, an intranet solution web-based document management system, will manage the relationship between XML parts and documents. Provides integrated link management with Third-party XML production tools, perfects the use of XML objects in browsers, and provides an interactive metadata model between the Intra.doc repository and the XML editor.
Microsoft: Microsoft wants to deliver Office 9.0 at the end of the year, and it is reported to have support for XML.
Microstar:activesg/xml is a set of tools and technologies for designing and configuring a XML/SGML system on the Internet. Microstar also provides a free ælfred XML parser.
softquad:html Editor HoTMetaL Pro will soon provide Live Data Base Pages, an add-on software that lets developers pull HTML data into a database and return it in XML.
Vignette:storyserver 3.2 delivers applications and content that can use XML on the Web. It combines relational databases, multimedia, and XML content creation tools. Storyserver is a Web content application platform for building, managing, and delivering web-based applications such as online publishing, knowledge management, and e-business systems. (Note: CNET has a financial interest in vignette.)
Xpublish:xpublish is an XML publishing system for Web site development and management that allows developers to make XML, or to extend the current HTML document with XML artifacts, and then publish the site in HTML so that any standard Web browser can access it. It contains a cascading Style sheets editor.
WebMethods: The company produces xml-based Web automation software that provides fast integration and direct access to business applications and web data. Its Web Interface Definition Language (widl) automates all interactions with html/xml and tables, providing a common way to perform requirements-answer interactions on a standard WEB protocol.
Of course, if XML is ubiquitous on the web, you can see that almost every web-based application, especially the HTML editor, database software, and E-commerce software, will quickly add support for all levels of XML.
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Internationalization of XML?
XML will make it easier for Web founders to create truly international sites than ever before. Because, for example, Java, which is defined by Unicode (ISO 10646), Unicode is an internationally accepted standard for describing all the letters, fonts, characters, and ideographic characters in the world, including ASCII ISO Latin character, Japan, Korea, China, India, Greece, Arabic and other characters. It even allows for a blending of character sets, for example, an XML document displayed in Japanese can be referenced to a German word by a vowel tone change.
Developers do not need to learn any scripting language so that Unicode takes effect in an XML document, and the document is displayed in the user's browser with the appropriate character set.
Where is the future of XML?
Around all the activities of XML, it's hard to predict what it will be like in six months. "We have created a tool designed to be used for general-purpose purposes, and a wide range of people's attention and application proves that we are successful," said Tim Bray, a partner in XML and XLL specifications.
In the short term, XML will likely appear on metadata applications, such as RDF. The next big impact will come with the approval of the document Object Model specification. Bray claims that "the combination of XML and Dom is really a magic bullet that brings vitality to the web."
XML should also help with E-commerce. XML will enable E-commerce vendors to identify products and their related information (price, size, color, feature) in a common way, allowing users to compare different stores on the Web.
At the same time, Netscape and Microsoft will continue to expand support for XML browsers, including efficient and well-formed XML documents, more XML applications, Style-sheet support for XML design, and XML hyper-connection protocols. Please pay attention to the progress of the two companies and other software vendors on XML production and publishing tools.
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20 where can I learn more XML knowledge?
XML is a complex thing that has profound implications for all web-makers. If you want to learn more, here are some good addresses to look at:
World Wide Web Consortium (WWW):
XML specification.
A discussion of XML specifications.
Extensible Style Language (XSL) Consortium annotation.
Extensible linking Language (XLL) specification.
Document Object Model specification.
An email address list of XML developers participating in the development of the Consortium specification.
XML FAQ:
Arbortext XML links and resources.
Microsoft's XML site provides a demo of how XML works in a weather forecast and auction.
Textuality collects a FAQ about XML and links to other resources for XML spec collaborators Tim Bray.
An XML FAQ maintained by Peter Flynn of the Cork University College in Ireland, representing the XML Special interest Group of the consortium.
The XML information page, a part of the Sgml/xml Web page created by the Robin cover of Dallas Summer Institute of linguistics.
Organization, continuing Education:
China XML Alliance
Graphic Communications Association's XML file
SGML Open is an international nonprofit association that advocates structured documents and data exchange based on the SGML family standard. Its interx.org is designed to be the "Forum and Resource Center for XML developers and users".
SGML University offers one or a week of courses in cities and major conferences in the United States.
