Yeah, it is noteworthy that two of the most widespread uses of XML on the Web (XHTML and RSS) are rarely even well-formed XML let alone utilizing other aspects of the XML architecture. This is one of the reasons I have no problem with HLink in the context of XHTML but have many issues with trying to make it applicable to the general XML architecture.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Champion [mailto:]
Sent: Fri 9/27/2002 11:20 AM
To:
Cc:
Subject: Re: RE: [xml-dev] Rethinking namespaces, attribute remapping (was Re: [xml-dev] TAG on HLink)
9/27/2002 1:51:54 PM, "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <> wrote:
>
>I am beginning to believe that attempting to work
>with self-descriptive systems for any given problem
>in every case is a non-starter. Well-formedness
>simply isn't enough for interoperability; portability,
>yes, but not interoperability.
I'm not sure if I want to touch this mess, but RSS might
be considered a counter-example. Sheesh, the weblog syndicators
don't even seem to care much about well-formedness, just enough
syntax constraint to point everyone in more or less the same
direction. Still, NewsIsFree.com and a whole bunch of other
aggregators manage to do a decent job of extracting a reasonable
amount of meat from the tag soup.
This is, admittedly a REAL simple use case (they only look for
a small number of tags in a very flat XML hierarchy) but seems
to at least minimally prove the concept that well-formed XML
is more than a "non-starter." Getting those folks to agree
on a common schema is EMPRICALLY a non-starter :-)
(Apologies to Eric and others who have labored in that vineyard!).
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