Summary

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HTML was well suited for the birth of the Internet, but the Internet has become a center for commerce and information and a central focus of business operations, and HTML is no longer capable of meeting its needs. The failure of Internet browsers to meet the HTML standards, the difficulty of validating HTML documents, a poor linking system, and a lack of international support has made HTML a poor choice for the future. SGML is an excellent, powerful tool capable of documenting complex systems, but unfortunately, SGML is far too complex for the current needs of the Internet.

XML is ideally suited for the next generation of Internet applications, for ecommerce, and for the corporate DNS. XML is a simpler, lighter markup language, which is flexible, is easy to use, and can be used for international documents. XML is ideal for storing data and sending messages, and XML documents can be validated.

At the time this book is being written, a large portion of the XML standard is complete, and it's likely to remain the same for some time. The XML 1.0 specification, defining the syntax of the XML language and XML DTDs, is well accepted and is not likely to change in the near future. Other elements of XML are still evolving, including schemas, which are similar to DTDs, and XML Path Language (XPath), which is a replacement for some of the current XML linking mechanisms. Over the next few years, XML will be refined to become an incredibly powerful tool that will create the next evolution of the Internet. This book will present both the current XML standard and a glimpse into the XML, and applications, of the future.