presenting xml in web technology

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Unlocking the Power of XML: How an XML Converter Can Streamline Your Workflow

In today’s digital era, businesses rely heavily on efficient and streamlined workflows to stay ahead of the competition. One technology that has played a significant role in optimizing workflows is XML (Extensible Markup Language). XML allows for the structured representation of data, making it easier to store, exchange, and manipulate information. However, working with XML files can sometimes be challenging without the right tools. This is where an XML converter comes into play – a powerful tool that can simplify your workflow and enhance productivity. In this article, we will explore how an XML converter can unlock the power of XML and streamline your business processes.

Understanding XML Conversion

Before diving into the benefits of using an XML converter, let’s first understand what exactly is meant by “XML conversion.” In simple terms, it refers to the process of transforming data from one format to another using XML as an intermediary language. An XML converter takes data from various sources such as databases, spreadsheets, or other file formats and converts them into valid XML documents or vice versa.

Streamlining Data Integration

One of the primary advantages of using an XML converter is its ability to streamline data integration across different systems or applications. Many businesses deal with multiple data sources that may use different formats or structures. This diversity often leads to compatibility issues when trying to exchange or combine data from different sources.

By employing an XML converter, businesses can bridge this gap by converting data from various formats into a standardized format using XML as a common language. This enables seamless integration between disparate systems and ensures smooth communication between different departments within an organization.

Enhancing Collaboration and Sharing

Collaboration plays a crucial role in today’s interconnected business environment. Whether it’s sharing information with team members or exchanging data with partners or clients, efficient collaboration is essential for success. This is where an XML converter proves invaluable.

An XML converter allows for easy sharing and collaboration by converting data into a universally accepted XML format. This format ensures that data can be easily understood and processed by recipients, regardless of their system or application preferences. Additionally, XML’s structured nature enables better organization of information, making it easier to navigate and locate specific data when needed.

Simplifying Data Manipulation and Analysis

In many industries, data manipulation and analysis are vital components of day-to-day operations. Whether it’s extracting insights from large datasets, performing complex calculations, or generating reports, having the ability to manipulate data efficiently is crucial.

An XML converter simplifies data manipulation by providing a standardized format that can be easily manipulated using various tools and programming languages. This flexibility allows businesses to automate repetitive tasks, perform complex transformations, and extract valuable insights from their XML data effortlessly.

Furthermore, an XML converter enables seamless integration with existing software tools or databases used for analysis purposes. This ensures that businesses can leverage their existing infrastructure while gaining the benefits of working with XML.

In conclusion, an XML converter is a powerful tool that can unlock the full potential of XML in streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity. By enabling seamless integration between disparate systems, simplifying collaboration and sharing, as well as simplifying data manipulation and analysis, an XML converter becomes an essential asset for businesses dealing with vast amounts of structured information.

Investing in an efficient XML converter not only saves time but also boosts accuracy and efficiency in handling complex data processes. As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, leveraging the power of XML through an effective converter becomes increasingly crucial for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s digital landscape.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

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Presentation of xml documents.

The visual presentation of a TEI encoded document requires the use of a style sheet or other conversion program. The extensible Stylesheet Language for Transformations (XSLT) was developed to transform XML (Extensible Markup Language) encoded documents into new forms. It is through the transformative capabilities of an XSLT stylesheet that XML documents can achieve their greatest potential.

Presenting XML with XSLT

An XML encoded document by itself is merely a data storage medium that is not intended for direct use. XML describes the document in just as little or much detail as needed, and a document in XML should only need to be encoded one time. Subsequent changes to the document should be accomplished with stylesheets. Simply put, XML tells the document what it is, but not what to do, while stylesheets contain instructions about how the XML document should be organized for display.

Presentation Process Chart

XSLT and XML

XSLT stylesheets tell the XML document how to function. They permit one to change the structure and appearance of XML data without the need for changing the XML encoding itself. XML documents can be radically altered for different purposes by changing the XSLT stylesheet or stylesheets — many of them can be attached to one XML document at once. They can also add new content to the original XML source document. XSLT stylesheets can complement CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Stylesheets permit the markup language to be suppressed from public view. With a stylesheet it is possible to view formatted text without viewing the XML encoding tags.

XSLT Stylesheets

XSLT rules are similar to XML rules. XSLT stylesheets must themselves be well-formed XML documents, meaning that tags must be closed, case matters, etc.

XSLT Structure

The creation of XSLT stylsheets operates on the principle of "templates". Using a template the designer describes by example, or "matches", the sections of the XML document that are to be displayed and transformed.

XSLT Basic Steps

1. Identify root element

2. Enter the XSLT version number:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

3. Enter the latest XSLT namespace:

<xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSLT/Transform">

XSLT Template Example

This is a simplified example of an XSLT template that is used to convert an XML file into an HTML file.

XSLT documents refer to a "namespace" which specifies the version of the XSLT rules to which the stylesheet conforms. The latest version of the XSLT namespace is:

<http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform>

An older version of the rules, now outdated, is:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl">

XSLT stylesheets use another XML standard, Xpath, to describe the exact location of the source document that is to be displayed. Xpath is based on the idea that XML content is arranged like a "document tree" where there is a single root element off of which exist a few, or many, other "nodes".

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What is XML?

Extensible Markup Language (XML) lets you define and store data in a shareable manner. XML supports information exchange between computer systems such as websites, databases, and third-party applications. Predefined rules make it easy to transmit data as XML files over any network because the recipient can use those rules to read the data accurately and efficiently.

Why is XML important?

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that provides rules to define any data. Unlike other programming languages, XML cannot perform computing operations by itself. Instead, any programming language or software can be implemented for structured data management.

For example, consider a text document with comments on it. The comments might give suggestions like these:

• Make the title bold
• This sentence is a header
• This word is the author

Such comments improve the document’s usability without affecting its content. Similarly, XML uses markup symbols to provide more information about any data. Other software, like browsers and data processing applications, use this information to process structured data more efficiently.

You use markup symbols, called tags in XML, to define data. For example, to represent data for a bookstore, you can create tags such as <book>, <title>, and <author>. Your XML document for a single book would have content like this:

<book>

<title> Learning Amazon Web Services </title>

<author> Mark Wilkins </author>

</book>

Tags bring sophisticated data coding to integrate information flows across different systems.

What are the benefits of using XML?

Support interbusiness transactions.

When a company sells a good or service to another company, the two businesses need to exchange information like cost, specifications, and delivery schedules. With Extensible Markup Language (XML), they can share all the necessary information electronically and close complex deals automatically, without any human intervention. 

Maintain data integrity

XML lets you transfer data along with the data’s description, preventing the loss of data integrity. You can use this descriptive information to do the following:

• Verify data accuracy
• Automatically customize data presentation for different users
• Store data consistently across multiple platforms 

Improve search efficiency

Computer programs like search engines can sort and categorize XML files more efficiently and precisely than other types of documents. For example, the word mark can be either a noun or a verb. Based on XML tags, search engines can accurately categorize mark for relevant search results. Thus, XML helps computers to interpret natural language more efficiently.

Design flexible applications

With XML, you can conveniently upgrade or modify your application design. Many technologies, especially newer ones, come with built-in XML support. They can automatically read and process XML data files so that you can make changes without having to reformat your entire database.

What are the applications of XML?

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the underlying technology in thousands of applications, ranging from common productivity tools like word processing to book publishing software and even complex application configuration systems.

Data transfer

You can use XML to transfer data between two systems that store the same data in different formats. For example, your website stores dates in MM/DD/YYYY format, but your accounting system stores dates in DD/MM/YYYY format. You can transfer the data from the website to the accounting system by using XML. Your developers can write code that automatically converts the following:

• Website data to XML format
• XML data to accounting system data
• Accounting system data back to XML format
• XML data back to website data

Web applications

XML gives structure to the data that you see on webpages. Other website technologies, like HTML, work with XML to present consistent and relevant data to website visitors. For example, consider an e-commerce website that sells clothes. Instead of showing all clothes to all visitors, the website uses XML to create customized webpages based on user preferences. It shows products from specific brands by filtering the <brand> tag.

Documentation

You can use XML to specify the structural information of any technical document. Other programs then process the document structure to present it flexibly. For example, there are XML tags for a paragraph, an item in a numbered list, and a heading. Using these tags, other types of software automatically prepare the document for uses such as printing and webpage publication.

Many programming languages support XML as a data type. With this support, you can easily write programs in other languages that work directly with XML files.

What are the components of an XML file?

An Extensible Markup Language (XML) file is a text-based document that you can save with the .xml extension. You can write XML similar to other text files. To create or edit an XML file, you can use any of the following: 

• Text editors like Notepad or Notepad++
• Online XML editors
• Web browsers

Any XML file includes the following components.

XML document 

The <xml></xml> tags are used to mark the beginning and end of an XML file. The content within these tags is also called an XML document. It is the first tag that any software will look for to process XML code.

XML declaration

An XML document begins with some information about XML itself. For example, it might mention the XML version that it follows. This opening is called an XML declaration. Here's an example.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

XML elements

All the other tags you create within an XML document are called XML elements. XML elements can contain these features:

• Other elements

All XML documents begin with a primary tag, which is called the root element.

For example, consider the XML file below.

<InvitationList>

<family>

       <aunt>

       <name>Christine</name>

        <name>Stephanie</name>

       </aunt>

</family>

</InvitationList>

<InvitationList> is the root element; family and aunt are other element names.

XML attributes

XML elements can have other descriptors called attributes. You can define your own attribute names and write the attribute values within quotation marks as shown below.

<person age=“22”>

XML content

The data in XML files is also called XML content. For example, in the XML file, you might see data like this. 

<friend>

       <name>Charlie</name>

       <name>Steve</name>

</friend>

The data values Charlie and Steve are the content.

What is an XML schema?

An Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema is a document that describes some rules or limits on the structure of an XML file. You can describe these constraints in several different ways, like these:

• Grammatical rules to determine the order of elements
• Yes or No conditions that the content must satisfy
• Data types for the content in XML files
• Constraints for data integrity

For example, an XML schema for bookstores might impose constraints like these:

• A book element will have the attributes title and author .
• The book element will be nested under a category element with an attribute name.
• The price of a book will be a separate element nested under book . 

To meet these constraints, we will write the XML file as shown below. 

<category name=“Technology”>

<book title=“Learning Amazon Web Services”, author=“Mark Wilkins”>

<price>$20</price>

</category>

XML schemas enforce consistency in how different software applications create and use XML files. Some industries implement XML schemas that are specific to their operations to reduce complexity in writing XML code for interbusiness data transfer. For example, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML specification for describing computer graphics-related data. Software developers write XML files so that they meet such industry specifications.

What is an XML parser?

An Extensible Markup Language (XML) parser is software that can process or read XML documents to extract the data within them. XML parsers also check the syntax or rules of the XML file and can validate it against a particular XML schema. Because XML is a strict markup language, the parsers will not process the file if there are any validation or syntax errors. For example, the XML parser will give errors if any of these conditions are true:

• A closing tag or end tag is missing
• Attribute values don’t have quotation marks
• A schema condition has not been met

Software applications use XML parsers to transform XML files into native data types. They can thus focus on the application logic without having to go into the details of the XML itself.

How is XML different from HTML?

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the language used in most webpages. A web browser processes the HTML documents and displays them as a multimedia page. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the international community that develops protocols and guidelines to ensure the long-term growth of the web. W3C established both the HTML and Extensible Markup Language (XML) standards that website developers implement for consistency and quality.

XML vs. HTML

While HTML and XML files look very similar, there are some key differences.

The purpose of HTML is to present and display data. However, XML stores and transports data.

HTML has predefined tags, but users can create and define their own tags in XML.

Syntax rules

There are some minor yet important differences between HTML and XML syntax. For example, XML is case sensitive, but HTML is not. XML parsers will give errors if you write a tag as <Book> instead of <book>.

How do AWS services support XML?

All AWS data integration services can process Extensible Markup Language (XML) files. We list some examples below.

AWS Glue is a serverless data integration service that you can use to discover, prepare, and combine data for analytics, machine learning, and application development. AWS Glue DataBrew is a visual data preparation tool that you can use to prepare data with an interactive, point-and-click visual interface without writing code. DataBrew can input all types of file formats, including XML.

Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) is a fully managed message queuing service that you can use to send, store, and receive messages between software components at any volume. Amazon SQS messages can contain up to 256 KB of text data, including XML, JSON, and unformatted text.

Amazon Kinesis makes it easy to collect, process, and analyze real-time, streaming data so you can get timely insights and react quickly to new information. With the key capabilities of Kinesis, you can process streaming data cost effectively at any scale. You also gain the flexibility to choose tools that suit the requirements of your application. Stream, transform, and analyze XML data in real time with Kinesis.

Get started with data integration by creating an AWS account today.

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How to Display XML - The Basics

Introduction.

XML is designed for data storage and transport. It encodes data in a format that is human-readable and machine-readable, providing a reliable, extensible framework for describing complex documents and data structures. Its primary use is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different systems, notably over the Internet.

Given its platform-independent and language-independent nature, XML files can be processed by most modern languages and operating systems.

Our guide aims to cover how to display XML files in a browser and introduce techniques for more advanced formatting, including CSS and XSLT.

Note: For a detailed overview of XML feel free to check out our XML Introduction and Basics

Displaying Raw XML Data in Web Browsers

Before diving into how to view XML files, we need to create one. Let's walk through the steps:

Open a basic text editor like Notepad or, if you prefer, a more sophisticated one like VS Code, Sublime Text, or Atom. For this simple demonstration, a basic text editor will suffice.

Copy the following XML code:

Our XML file represents a lunch menu, with each <food> element detailing the name, price, description, and calorie content of a specific dish.

Specifically, <lunch_menu> , <food> , <name> , <price> , <description> , and <calories> are custom XML tags that structure our data.

While this is a straightforward example, XML files can encapsulate much more complex data structures and continue to find use in various real-world applications. These include legacy systems for data interchange, web services enabling structured communication, and the storage and transportation of intricate document structures across diverse sectors.

Save the file with an .xml extension (for example, lunch_menu.xml ).

Open the file in your web browser by dragging and dropping the file, or right-clicking and choosing "Open With" to select your preferred browser.

• Viewing XML Files

When opening the lunch_menu.xml file in a browser, browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari will render the XML file in its raw form, displaying XML tags and data without any styling or formatting.

Modern browsers provide some navigational aids to help you browse the data. They typically color-code the XML elements to distinguish between tags and data and provide expand and collapse features (usually symbolized by plus (+) or minus (-) signs) to navigate the hierarchical structure of an XML document. To view the raw XML source, select "View Page Source" or "View Source" from the browser menu.

The user experience with raw XML files is limited by the visibility of tags and plain data, lacking the visual appeal of a formatted document. For a more user-friendly and visually appealing view of your XML document, consider using an online XML viewer such as this one , among others. It allows you to parse XML, visualize it, and even perform validation checks.

Displaying XML with CSS: A Brief Overview

CSS isn't solely confined to styling HTML documents. It can also add visual formatting to XML files, thereby transforming the bare-bones, tag-ridden view into a more aesthetically pleasing presentation. This is accomplished via the xml-stylesheet processing instruction, which acts as a bridge to a CSS file. Here's how it might be presented:

In the above line of code, the XML file is effectively instructed to import styles from an external CSS file named "stylesheet.css" . In this CSS file, you would specify the styles for your XML elements, adding a degree of aesthetic formatting to the otherwise plain XML data. For instance, you might want to add colors to differentiate types of data, change fonts or sizes to emphasize certain elements or add borders and spacing for a cleaner layout.

But even with the ability to style XML with CSS, keep in mind that this approach has limitations. The most notable is that CSS doesn't allow for the transformation of XML data into other forms, a crucial requirement for making the data truly versatile. This limitation leads us to a more powerful alternative for displaying XML - XSLT , or Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations .

Displaying XML with XSLT

When it comes to transforming XML documents into other formats like HTML, XSLT is often the go-to option. More advanced than CSS, XSLT has the capability to not just alter the presentation, but also to reshape the data itself. Through XSLT, you can rearrange elements, sort data, and even add or remove elements and attributes in the output file. To locate and interact with data within an XML document, XSLT utilizes XPath , a language specifically designed for navigating XML.

In your XML file, you can link an XSLT stylesheet using an xml-stylesheet processing instruction, as shown below:

The href attribute points to an XSLT file — in this instance, transform.xsl — which houses the rules on how the XML data should be transformed. These rules might dictate the conversion of XML elements into HTML tables, lists, or other kinds of elements.

Constructing such transformations can be intricate, demanding a strong understanding of both XSLT and XPath. To partly assist with this, there are online tools such as the XSLT viewer provided by W3Schools that let you visualize the end result of the transformations before applying them to your XML data.

The versatility of XSLT allows for data presentation in various formats, not just HTML. It's a robust tool that unlocks numerous opportunities for data representation. For an in-depth look into XSLT's unique aspects, its interplay with XPath, and its advanced usage, we suggest the "What is XSLT?" article found in our additional resources below. It provides an extensive introduction to XSLT without assuming a prior knowledge of the subject.

Additional Resources

XML Syntax - A Detailed Overview

What is XSLT?

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XML introduction

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a markup language similar to HTML , but without predefined tags to use. Instead, you define your own tags designed specifically for your needs. This is a powerful way to store data in a format that can be stored, searched, and shared. Most importantly, since the fundamental format of XML is standardized, if you share or transmit XML across systems or platforms, either locally or over the internet, the recipient can still parse the data due to the standardized XML syntax.

There are many languages based on XML, including XHTML , MathML , SVG , RSS , and RDF . You can also define your own.

Structure of an XML document

The whole structure of XML and XML-based languages is built on tag s.

XML declaration

XML - declaration is not a tag. It is used for the transmission of the meta-data of a document.

Used version XML in this document.

Used encoding in this document.

"Correct" XML (valid and well-formed)

Correct design rules.

For an XML document to be correct, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

• Document must be well-formed.
• Document must conform to all XML syntax rules.
• Document must conform to semantic rules, which are usually set in an XML schema or a DTD ( Document Type Definition ) .

Now let's look at a corrected version of that same document:

A document that contains an undefined tag is invalid. For example, if we never defined the <warning> tag, the document above wouldn't be valid.

Most browsers offer a debugger that can identify poorly-formed XML documents.

Like HTML, XML offers methods (called entities) for referring to some special reserved characters (such as a greater than sign which is used for tags). There are five of these characters that you should know:

Even though there are only 5 declared entities, more can be added using the document's Document Type Definition . For example, to create a new &warning; entity, you can do this:

You can also use numeric character references to specify special characters; for example, &#xA9; is the "©" symbol.

Displaying XML

XML is usually used for descriptive purposes, but there are ways to display XML data. If you don't define a specific way for the XML to be rendered, the raw XML is displayed in the browser.

One way to style XML output is to specify CSS to apply to the document using the xml-stylesheet processing instruction.

There is also another more powerful way to display XML: the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations ( XSLT ) which can be used to transform XML into other languages such as HTML. This makes XML incredibly versatile.

Recommendations

This article is obviously only a very brief introduction to what XML is, with a few small examples and references to get you started. For more details about XML, you should look around on the Web for more in-depth articles.

Learning the HyperText Markup Language ( HTML ) will help you better understand XML.

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XML | Basics

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The design goals of XML focus on simplicity, generality, and usability across the Internet. It is a textual data format with strong support via Unicode for different human languages. Although the design of XML focuses on documents, the language is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures such as those used in web services.

• XML stands for extensible Markup Language
• XML is a markup language like HTML
• XML is designed to store and transport data
• XML is designed to be self-descriptive

Differences between XML and HTML

XML and HTML were designed with different goals:

• XML is designed to carry data emphasizing on what type of data it is.
• HTML is designed to display data emphasizing on how data looks
• XML tags are not predefined like HTML tags.
• HTML is a markup language whereas XML provides a framework for defining markup languages.
• HTML is about displaying data,hence it is static whereas XML is about carrying information,which makes it dynamic.

EXAMPLE : XML code for a note is given below

HTML code for the note is given below

Note: The output in both the cases is same but while using HTML we have used predefined tags like p tag and h1 tag whereas while using XML we have used self defined tags like “To” tag and “from” tag.

Another Example: The XML above is quite self-descriptive:

• It has sender information.
• It has receiver information.
• It has a heading.
• It has a message body.
• The tags in the example below are not defined in any XML standard. These tags are “invented” by the author of the XML document.HTML works with predefined tags like p tag, h1 tag, etc.While in XML, the author must define both the tags and the document structure.

Basically XML above does not do anything. XML is just information wrapped in tags. Users must require a piece of software to send, receive, store, or display it.

XML makes web development User Friendly : Many computer systems contain data in incompatible formats. Exchanging data between incompatible systems or upgraded systems is a time-consuming task for web developers. Large amounts of data must be converted, and incompatible data is often lost. XML stores data in plain text format. This provides a software- and hardware-independent way of storing, transporting, and sharing data.

XML is Extensible: XML applications will work as expected even if data is edited i.e. added or removed. Example : The above note is edited into a newer version by adding date tag and hour tag , and by removing the heading tag. Previous version

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XML Tutorial

Xpath tutorial, xslt tutorial, xquery tutorial, xsd data types, web services, introduction to xml.

XML is a software- and hardware-independent tool for storing and transporting data.

What is XML?

• XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language
• XML is a markup language much like HTML
• XML was designed to store and transport data
• XML was designed to be self-descriptive

XML is a W3C Recommendation

Xml does not do anything.

Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything.

This note is a note to Tove from Jani, stored as XML:

The XML above is quite self-descriptive:

• It has sender information
• It has receiver information
• It has a heading
• It has a message body

But still, the XML above does not DO anything. XML is just information wrapped in tags.

Someone must write a piece of software to send, receive, store, or display it:

Don't forget me this weekend!

The Difference Between XML and HTML

XML and HTML were designed with different goals:

• XML was designed to carry data - with focus on what data is
• HTML was designed to display data - with focus on how data looks
• XML tags are not predefined like HTML tags are

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XML Does Not Use Predefined Tags

The XML language has no predefined tags.

The tags in the example above (like <to> and <from>) are not defined in any XML standard. These tags are "invented" by the author of the XML document.

HTML works with predefined tags like <p>, <h1>, <table>, etc.

With XML, the author must define both the tags and the document structure.

XML is Extensible

Most XML applications will work as expected even if new data is added (or removed).

Imagine an application designed to display the original version of note.xml (<to> <from> <heading> <body>).

Then imagine a newer version of note.xml with added <date> and <hour> elements, and a removed <heading>.

The way XML is constructed, older version of the application can still work:

Old Version

New version.

Date: 2015-09-01 08:30

XML Simplifies Things

• XML simplifies data sharing
• XML simplifies data transport
• XML simplifies platform changes
• XML simplifies data availability

Many computer systems contain data in incompatible formats. Exchanging data between incompatible systems (or upgraded systems) is a time-consuming task for web developers. Large amounts of data must be converted, and incompatible data is often lost.

XML stores data in plain text format. This provides a software- and hardware-independent way of storing, transporting, and sharing data.

XML also makes it easier to expand or upgrade to new operating systems, new applications, or new browsers, without losing data.

With XML, data can be available to all kinds of "reading machines" like people, computers, voice machines, news feeds, etc.

XML became a W3C Recommendation as early as in February 1998.

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