XML vs. HTML

[Chris Gray]

Some on this list have asked whether XML is necessary. Whether or not it
is, moving from HTML to XML is not necessarily necessary. I thought the
following from Tim Bray (one of the authors of the XML 1.0 specification)
was helpful:

XML is not ...  a replacement for HTML. HTML is an excellent tool for
displaying hypermedia documents across a network. If you have XML or SGML,
it is easy to generate HTML on the fly. XML is designed for electronic
information providers who want to do things that HTML isn't designed for. 

This quotation is from a page with a good summary the designed benefits of
XML: http://www.textuality.com/xml/

Also worth looking at is Bray's annotated version of the XML 1.0
specification at: http://www.xml.com/xml/pub/axml/axmlintro.html

Chris Gray
Computer Systems Technician
Library Systems
University of Waterloo