XML was designed to transport and store data.
HTML was designed to display data.
HTML was designed to display data.
What You Should Already Know
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:- HTML
- JavaScript
What is XML?
- XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language
- XML is a markup language much like HTML
- XML was designed to carry data, not to display data
- XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags
- XML is designed to be self-descriptive
- XML is a W3C Recommendation
The Difference Between XML and HTML
XML is not a replacement for HTML.XML and HTML were designed with different goals:
- XML was designed to transport and store data, with focus on what data is.
- HTML was designed to display data, with focus on how data looks.
XML Does not DO Anything
Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything. XML was created to structure, store, and transport information.The following example is a note to Tove from Jani, stored as XML:
| <note> <to>Tove</to> <from>Jani</from> <heading>Reminder</heading> <body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body> </note> |
But still, this XML document does not DO anything. It is just pure information wrapped in tags. Someone must write a piece of software to send, receive or display it.
XML is Just Plain Text
XML is nothing special. It is just plain text. Software that can handle plain text can also handle XML. However, XML-aware applications can handle the XML tags specially. The functional meaning of the tags depends on the nature of the application.
With XML You Invent Your Own Tags
The tags in the example above (like <to> and <from>) are not defined in any XML standard. These tags are "invented" by the author of the XML document.That is because the XML language has no predefined tags.
The tags used in HTML (and the structure of HTML) are predefined. HTML documents can only use tags defined in the HTML standard (like <p>, <h1>, etc.).
XML allows the author to define his own tags and his own document structure.
XML is Not a Replacement for HTML
XML is a complement to HTML.It is important to understand that XML is not a replacement for HTML. In most web applications, XML is used to transport data, while HTML is used to format and display the data.
My best description of XML is this:
XML is a software- and hardware-independent tool for carrying information.
