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Scott DeMers <demerss1@msu.edu> asks:
>
> Greetings --
>
> I run some websites for a university, and I am curious about
> using XML for some of my projects. I would like some opinions
> on the following (I'm somewhat new to XML, so feel free to
> correct any errors):
>
> 1. Content management - Storing data in XML files using a DTD
> like Website. Currently, data is stored in a database, which
> works fine, but I'm curous about the advantages of XML storage.
The debate is ongoing. My 2 cents? No advantage as far as storage
itself goes, the real value add is in what you can do with XML. As
such, getting XML out of a database is a consideration, whether the
database supports that directly or you end up adding a middle layer
between the database and everything else. To that end, I'll note one
possibility you're sort of skirting around which is Web site
management/development itself.
I use XML driven content and XSLT to separate the content of web sites
from the presentation. All XHTML is coded in a single XSLT, all data is
stored in one single XML location (be it a database or a file). Thus,
if I make a change to a presentation element I make the change only
once, if I make a change to a common data element I make it only once,
and all changes shows up on every page that the presentation or data is
referenced on automagically.
> 2. XUL - Many of our dynamic sites are maintained by students
> via an HTML interface. I've played with XUL, and it seems to
> have potential for internal pages like this, although HTML
> currently serves this purpose well.
>
> 3. RSS - One I'm quite certain we'll be using for calendar
> events and news headlines.
>
> Please chime in on any of the above topics, or suggest some I
> haven't considered that would make a web site easier to
> maintain and more useful for users.
>
> Thanks a bunch,
>
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