Useful Links: XML/XSL
Disclaimer/Warning
This page has been initiated by Ms. Hoskins to provide Single Sourcing SIG members with a starting point for investigating XML and related technologies.
See the Sept. 2002 Intercom for articles on XML.
We do not intend to provide definitive, detailed information on this links page regarding browser support, only links to basic information. Please research your users' needs before you implement XML processing.
Please note that there are significant browser issues still in using XML with XSL for client-side processing. The best support for XSL client-side is in IE 5+, but even with Microsoft browsers, they have changed the XML parser over time. XML is not supported in Netscape 4.7, and support is different in Netscape 6 from IE 5+. Client-side XSL processing works best for intranet applications where IE 5+ browsers can be specified.
You will have more success with browser compatibilty if you use server-side processing to generate HTML pages from XML, then pass the HTML to your users. This avoids browser and parser issues.
Most single-sourcing applications and
content management systems that support XML also provide tools for generating
HTML and PDF/RTF.
- Dorothy Hoskins
XML Under the Hood
Presentation given at "XML in the Real World" STC workshop in Rochester, NY on Nov. 8, 2002. Business reasons to use XML, current state of tools, basic XML and XSL (including exercises). Available at www.resourx.com on the contact page.
All XML, All the Time
Robin Cover of the OASIS organization maintains one of the most respected resources for all things XML-related. See XML Cover Pages.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
structural elements and attributes of an information source expressed in XML syntax (well-formed and/or valid XML)
W3C specs: http://www.w3.org/XML/
Free Tutorial (with ads): http://www.w3schools.com/xml/
XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language)
transformation of XML to HTML (mainly), expressed in XML syntax
W3C specs: http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/
Free Tutorial (with ads): http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/
XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transform)
XML-to-XML transformation to restructure output tree nodes, expressed in XML syntax
W3C spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt
Free Tutorial (with ads, targets Visul Basic developers): http://www.vbxml.com/xsl/tutorials/intro/xsl1.asp
XSL-FO (eXtensible Stylesheet Language - Formatting Object)
transformation of XML to PDF (mainly) and RTF, expressed in XML syntax
W3C spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/xsl/slice6.html#fo-section
Useful overview: What is XSL-FO? by Ken Holman
Open source tools: Formatting Object Processor (FOP)
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