Electronic Dissertations Library

XML: the future of web markup?, by Elliot Pritchard

Abstract

The World Wide Web Consortium's XML 1.0 Recommendation was announced on 10th February 1998. This ETD provides a clear introduction to XML. A tutorial explains what XML is and a series of articles give a critical introduction to the issues surrounding it. No previous knowledge of XML is needed, but familiarity with HTML is recommended.

XML has received a great deal of praise. As a subset of the previously-existing SGML, it is based on sound principles that manage to avoid many of the pitfalls that have befallen HTML. A certain amount of praise is appropriate: XML offers great benefits in terms of adding context to documents, of separating the processing of style and content, and of providing a greater degree of granularity for document-handling. But some of the praise seems to ignore XML's drawbacks: along with the associated specifications XSL, XLink, and XPointer it is quite a complex tool that is unforgiving of the smallest mistakes.

A great part of XML's success depends on the co-operation of the corporate web-community. Not only is there the danger of proprietary versions, but there is also the worry that companies will not work together on the industry-DTDs (Document Type Definition) that could do great things for the Web, and for searching in particular. XML will undoubtedly play an important role in the future of web markup, but just how large a role has yet be determined.

XML is a fast-changing topic. All the material in this dissertation is accurate at 25th August 1999, but as time goes on some of the comments may no longer hold true.

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