Re: [tlug] OT: XML?

["Jean-Christian Imbeault" <jean_christian@example.com>]

>From: "Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>
>
>If you write the structure out as
>schemas, then you'll be aware of when you're breaking the rules.  Your
>tools will squawk.  Go ahead, break them as necessary---or rather,
>rewrite them.  That's the first half of the "why."

Lost me. Are you saying the "why" is so that I can tell when my site doesn't 
follow the rules I have set for it's hierachical layout?

>The how is simple.  Your favorite programming language(s) will have
>libraries for handling XML.

Oops ... my "how" refered to how to write a web site in XML, not how to 
parse it after it has been written. Though fromwhat people have written I 
see that having a site written in XML is almost pointless if you don't then 
write some extra code (yourself) to take advantage of it.

>The second half of "why" is that you can use these libraries to create
>abbreviations that expose the common structure of your site, while
>hiding the boilerplate.  Ie, you generate the presentation from the
>source.  You can automatically verify syntax and often large parts of
>semantics automatically.  And you can use the deep structure to
>generate varying views of your content from the same sources.

Now *that* sounds like a Good Thing(tm). But then again as someone else 
pointed out XHTML and CSS would pretty much do this also.

>The other thing about using XML at this stage is that the tools are
>available to everybody you might need to communicate with.  Show them
>your DTD/schemas, and they can talk directly to your sources.  So this
>provides a path for growth as your "simple little" web site gets more
>complex and bigger.

Fair enough but if I have no plans to communicate with anyone else sounds 
like a big part of what XML is all about will be lost on my "little web 
site".

From what I have read so far and list comments sounds like a big plus for 
XML is it's ability to help different apps to communicate and separate 
content from display.?But for a "simple" site judicious use of HTML and CSS 
separates form from content well ...

Just opinion after digesting list comments ;)

Jc

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx