XML Features

XML Features

In the era of web development XML is widely used. This also helps to facilitate the storage and exchange of data.

The main features or benefits of XML are outlined below.

1.XML separates data from HTML

If you need to display dynamic data in your HTML document, editing the HTML will take a great deal of work each time the data changes.

XML allows the data to be stored in separate XML files. It helps you to concentrate on using HTML / CSS for display and layout, and ensuring that adjustments to the underlying data do not include modifications to the HTML.

You can read an external XML file with a few lines of JavaScript code, and update your web page 's data content.

2.XML simplifies data sharing

Computer systems and databases in the physical world hold the data in different formats.

XML data are kept in plain text format. This provides a software- and hardware-independent approach to data storage.

This makes it much easier to create data which different applications can share.

3.XML simplifies data transport

One of the developers' most time-consuming challenges is the sharing of data over the Internet between incompatible systems.

The difficulty is significantly minimized by the sharing of data as XML, as the data can be interpreted by different incompatible applications.

4.XML simplifies Platform change

It is often time-consuming to migrate to new systems (hardware or software platforms). Large amounts of data need to be transformed and often conflicting data gets lost.

XML data is kept in text format. That allows extending or upgrading to new operating systems, new software or new browsers simpler without losing data.

5.XML increases data availability

You can view the data from various applications, not just through HTML pages but also from XML data sources.

With XML, all sorts of "reading machines" (handheld computers, speech machines, news feeds, etc.) will view the data to make it more accessible to blind people, or individuals with certain disabilities.

6.XML can be used to create new internet languages

For XML several new Internet languages are being created.

Below are only a few examples:

• XHTML
• WSDL to identify Web services available
• WAP and WML for handheld devices as markup languages
• RSS News Feeds languages
• RDF and OWL for Ressource and Ontology
• SMIL to Web Multimedia Description