THE XML REVOLUTION - TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FUTURE WEB

What is XML?

XML: eXtensible Markup Language

XML is a framework for defining markup languages:

there is no fixed collection of markup tags - we may define our own tags, tailored for our kind of information
each XML language is targeted at its own application domain, but the languages will share many features
there is a common set of generic tools for processing documents

XML is not a replacement for HTML:

HTML should ideally be just another XML language
in fact, XHTML is just that
XHTML is a (very popular) XML language for hypertext markup

XML is designed to:

separate syntax from semantics to provide a common framework for structuring information (browser rendering semantics is completely defined by stylesheets);
allow tailor-made markup for any imaginable application domain
support internationalization (Unicode) and platform independence
be the future of structured information, including databases

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