XML: What it is and What it Does

[Joe Miller <joemiller -at- CANBERRA -dot- COM>]

Seems that not everyone knows what XML stands for and what it has to do
with tech writing/publishing.  Here's the short answer.

XML stands for Extended Markup Language.  It's much better for formatting
online documents than HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which is not very
powerful (nor, in my opinion, very useful for publishing), and is not as
complex and hard to master as SGML (Standardized General Markup Language),
the markup language from which both HTML and XML are derived.

You can find more information about XML at <http://www.xml.com>, a site
sponsored by O'Reilly Publishing and Seybold Seminars.  In addition to
current news about XML, it has links to XML defintions.

As Peter Carroll explained it so well in the Publishing Forum on Universal
Thread last month <http://www.universalthread.com> (included here with
Peter's permission).

>XML:
> a. provides a common format for all document files
> b. enables content management.
>     In a nutshell, it means that authors will not be tied to proprietary
>     formats (e.g. MS Word) and that knowledge can be captured
>     systematically at the authoring stage instead of after publishing.
>     This will enable faster and more efficient production through reuse
>     of content fragments across diverse systems.

In his reply giving his permission to quote his words, Peter added:
   "You are probably aware that XML can be many things to many people and
    systems so it can be a difficult and lengthy process to describe it
fully."

I hope this necessarily short explanation helps you understand what XML is
and what it can do.

--Joe Miller


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