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Subject:Re: Giving up on XML From:quills -at- airmail -dot- net To:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>, "techwhirlers" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:13:59 -0500
At 7:41 AM -0700 3/19/07, Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
>I think that before the dust settles, for XML to successfully
>become the ubitquitous standard document language that it's
>hyped to be, some provision will need to be made for users
>who have a need to use the language (for example, to enable
>the same topic text to be used in print/PDF docs, online
>help and automated user wizards) but who don't give a fudge
>about rigidly enforced document structure. If XML is just
>a language there's no reason why it shouldn't be possible to
>use it in tools that create unstructured documents as well.
>
>Gene Kim-Eng
Then why bother at all? If you don't follow the structure, it becomes
irrelevant. valid and well-formed is not a holy grail, nor is it a
goal. It is a standard. If you deviate from that standard, you are no
longer in compliance. If compliance with the standard isn't
important, why bother with a standard?
Scott
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