Introduction to XML: Fixing the Web

What's wrong with the Web and how can the new XML technology fix it? This XML introduction is geared toward newcomers who have heard the buzz, but don't know what all the fuss is about. The article briefly surveys a number of new Web technologies such as XLL, XSL, RDF, DOM, MathML, SMIL, PGML, and how they relate to XML. Benefits of XML are stressed, as are potential applications in diverse fields. A reference section provides links to key XML resources, as well as to collections of other introductory articles.

Sall, Ken. Intranet Journal (2001). Design>Web Design>XML>Metadata

Introduction to XPath

XPath is a language for addressing parts of an XML document, designed to be used by both XSLT and XPointer. In this article we will learn about XPath, XPath expressions and how to use XPath in .NET and Java.

Zaman, Mamun. Dev Articles (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>XSL

Just Say "Help": Implementing Help in VoiceXML

One of the exciting aspects of XML is the number of ways it is being used to provide new means of communicating and gathering new information. One such use is VoiceXML, an emerging W3C standard that brings voice to the Web or the Web to the phone.

Beebe, Allen. WritersUA (2002). Design>Documentation>XML

Lessons From The Trenches: DocZone.com Is Doing It With DITA

Interviews Chris Hill of DocZone.com and explores the lessons his firm learned while implementing the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA).

Abel, Scott. Rockley Group, The (2006). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA

Low-Cost, Flat-File XML for the Masses  

When you hear about XML publishing, you mostly hear about databases, workflow tools, and content management systems. These are typically costly systems aimed towards the information management needs of larger enterprises, where the sheer volume of information pumped through these systems provides a fairly rapid return on investment. This fosters the perception that you need one of these complex, expensive, enterprise solutions to use take advantage of the modularity and flexibility of authoring in XML. That is simply not true. You can realize the benefits of publishing from modularized XML, without the expense of an enterprise publishing system, by implementing the authoring environment on top of nothing more than your operating system's file system. Although this environment is not adequate for enterprise publishing needs, it is more than adequate for the needs small writing teams, businesses with a limited number of related products, proof-of-concept demonstrations, and even home users. The AIC documentation group at Cisco Systems has implemented such an authoring environment. We have been able to reuse and re-purpose modular, XML-based information without implementing a database back end. By examining how the AIC team implemented XML in a flat-file environment, you will see: * the decisions you need to make before implementing a flat-file XML system * the trade-offs, drawbacks, and pitfalls of implementing a flat-file environment (as compared to a database publishing environment) * the benefits of XML that are still available, even without the database * a migration path to a more traditional publishing environment

Willebeek-LeMair, Jason. IDEAlliance (2001). Presentations>Publishing>XML>Writing

Managing and Delivering Your Content as Data  

Houser describes several options for organizations interested in data-oriented publishing--the delivery of discrete, independent pieces of information that can be selected, manipulated, and presented to meet the needs of different audiences with different characteristics and different goals.

Houser, Alan R. Intercom (2003). Design>Content Management>Single Sourcing>XML

Managing and Documenting Your Project, XML Style

Here are links to the listings described in Managing and Documenting Your Project XML Style.

Fisher, Timothy. XML Journal (2003). Articles>Documentation>Project Management>XML

Managing XML Data Storage

XML is becoming the data format of choice for a wide variety of information systems solutions. Common applications using XML include document transmission in B2B systems, message format construction for integration of Internet applications with legacy systems, binding of XML data to visual and non-visual controls, data storage and retrieval, and various data manipulation activities within applications.

Emerick, Jerry. ACM Crossroads (2002). Articles>Information Design>XML

Manipulate XML Service Definitions with Java Programming

A Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) typically exports a range of services. For XML service modelling and subsequent consumption of those services by users (people, machines, or other services), Java technology provides powerful mechanisms to handle XML data, which in turn provides a key foundation for using SOA concepts. Dive into the practical aspects of SOA using XML and Java technology, and discover clear examples of why this seemingly complex technology is so popular.

Morris, Stephen B. IBM (2007). Articles>Information Design>XML>Java

Mapping Between XML and Relational Data

This chapter explores the various methods for mapping between XML and relational data models. It focuses on the underlying fundamentals: goals and requirements for mapping between XML and relational data; issues that arise when mapping, such as handling of datatypes and order; and when a particular technique can or cannot support update operations.

Draper, Denise. InformIT (2004). Design>Information Design>XML

Merging XML Files: A New Approach Providing Intelligent Merge of XML Data Sets  

As XML becomes ubiquitous so the need for powerful tools to manipulate XML data becomes more pressing. Merging XML is particularly tricky, but often necessary to consolidate data feeds from heterogeneous systems, or to synchronize submissions of XML fragments which make up a larger document. An automated mechanism for defining and controlling such merges has been developed and is demonstrated to provide a consistent, adaptable and resilient solution to this problem. Integration into an information pipeline allows limitless customization.

La Fontaine, Robin. DeltaXML.com (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>Collaboration

Migrating from HTML to XML

As the Internet world shifts its focus to XML and related technologies, what happens to HTML? Everywhere you go, products are becoming 'XMLitized' as vendors rush to gain market share. While this is great for companies that are only now beginning to build their infrastructures, what about the rest of us whose sites have existed for years, accumulating documents architected on old HTML technology? How are we to take our millions and millions of HTML documents and bring them into the next generation of Internet computing? Fortunately, the market for tools in this space is growing, and technologies like Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) are making it easier to migrate your repository of existing HTML documents.

Fischer, Peter. New Architect (2000). Design>Web Design>XML>XHTML

More About Custom DTDs  

Discusses the need for custom DTDs: why making a custom DTD for the sole purpose of validation is a mistake, and in which cases it does make sense to create and use one. For these cases, this article will also present techniques for creating clean custom DTDs and avoiding hacks.

W3C Quality Assurance Team. List Apart, A (2005). Design>Web Design>Standards>XML

Moving from Information Mapping to DITA    

Is your company making the move from Information Mapping to DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)? The author compares and contrasts the two methods and shares insight on how to ease the pain of switching from one to the other.

Hughes, Michael A. Intercom (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA

Moving into XML Functionality: The Combined Digital Dictionaries of Buddhism and East Asian Literary Terms  

Compilation of the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (DDB) began with the realization of the dearth of adequate lexicographical and other reference works in the English language for the textual scholar of East Asian Buddhism in particular, and East Asian philosophy and religion in general. The (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) CJK-English Dictionary (CJK-E) began soon after. I decided, during my first Buddhist and Confucian/Taoist texts readings courses, to save everything I looked up, and have continued that practice to the present, through the course of studying scores of classical texts. Although the content of these two lexicons is presently being supplemented by other interested parties, the terms that I have been compiling serve as the major portion of the work.

Muller, Charles and Michael Beddow. Journal of Digital Information (2002). Articles>Publishing>Online>XML

MSXML Tutorial

This article, the first of three parts, explains what MSXML is and how to access an XML document using JavaScript.

Keogh, Jim and Ken Davidson. ASP Free (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>Microsoft Windows

MSXML, Concluded

This article, the third of three parts, explains what MSXML is and how to access an XML document using JavaScript.

Keogh, Jim and Ken Davidson. ASP Free (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>Microsoft Windows

MSXML, Continued

This article, the second of three parts, explains what MSXML is and how to access an XML document using JavaScript.

Keogh, Jim and Ken Davidson. ASP Free (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>Microsoft Windows

Musings on Structured, Topic-Oriented Authoring

A blog post that presents a few thoughts on using technologies like DITA to author documentation.

DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA

New Metadata Standards for Digital Resources: MODS and METS

Metadata has taken on a new look with the advent of XML and digital resources. XML provides a new versatile structure for tagging and packaging metadata as the rapid proliferation of digital resources demands both rapidly produced descriptive data and the encoding of more types of metadata. Two emerging standards are attempting to harness these developments for library needs. The first is the Metadata Object and Description Schema (MODS), a MARC-compatible XML schema for encoding descriptive data. The second standard is the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), a highly flexible XML schema for packaging the descriptive metadata and various other important types of metadata needed to assure the use and preservation of digital resources.

Guenther, Rebecca and Sally McCallum. ASIST (2002). Articles>Information Design>Metadata>XML

New to XML

Extensible Markup Language, or XML, provides a way to mark up content that adds information about its purpose. With the information stored using XML, an application known as a parser can reliably extract the relevant information and process it accordingly for multiple situations.

IBM. Articles>Information Design>XML

Newcomers Lured by the Sweet XML of Success

How do you simplify the message you want to broadcast to the world without losing its meaning? For established players it's so much easier because they can get in front of their customers. They can run seminars or publish White Papers that will most likely reach an audience. Or they may gain interest from independent technical consultants to whom users will listen.

Sharpe, Richard. PC Magazine (2004). Articles>Information Design>XML

One-One, One-Many and Many-Many Relations in XML Schema

This article is the second in a series that shows you how to implement relations for designing robust XML schema definitions.

Chaterjee, Jagadish. Dev Articles (2006). Design>Information Design>Databases>XML

OnStar Takes Voice XML for Drive

GM unit prepares for mobile content delivery.

Sliwa, Carol. ComputerWorld. Articles>User Interface>XML>Voice