The BYU ECEn Dept. XML Web Templates: XML FAQ

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

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XML FAQ

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What is XML? Why are we using XML?	What are the differences between HTML and XML?

What is XML?

What is XML? XML is a markup language. A markup language is a way of taking regular old text and telling computers what the various parts of it are.

For example, take a look at this text:

Bristol, England

You probably recogize the text as describing a place. To a computer, the text by itself has no inherent meaning, like it does to the human reader. XML allows us to describe the text in terms a computer can understand.

If I were to describe the text in English, I might write something like:

Bristol, England is a place.

If I were to describe the text in XML, I would write something like:

<place>Bristol,England</place>

<place> is a tag. All this place tag does is describe the text within it as a place to the computer. Easy enough?

So, what is XML? Simply a way to describe text. XML is particularly useful to describe text to a computer, but works well for people too.

This kind of like HTML to me, and it should. HTML is another markup language. There are many differences between HTML and XML, and if you know HTML, it would be a good idea to find out what the differences between HTML and XML are.

Why are we using XML?

Why XML? Basically, because XML is a useful tool for organizing all kinds of content and works well for web pages too.

Using XML for web pages allows us to focus on the content, rather than the presentation, of the ECEn web pages. Ideally, you'll be able to produce your own web pages without worrying about the nitty, gritty of making your link, heading, or table, match the BYU templates look and feel. If you use the ECEn XML web templates, you can concentrate on producing your content, and the templates will do the rest. XML is particulary suited to this kind of thing because, as we discussed before, it is a tool to describe text. You describe your content using the ECEn XML and look and feel will take care of itself.

What are the differences between HTML and XML?

HTML vs XML. If you know HTML, it would be a good idea to understand the critical differences between XML and HTML.