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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] The failure to communicate XML - and its costs to e-business
 I have titled this essay "The failure to communicate XML" but could equally accurately have called it "The great XML confidence trick". I am not saying that to provoke but to emphasise the seriousness of the misinformation and misunderstanding about the XML family of technologies which I believe exists and needs to be corrected. Confusion and lack of clarity exist at many levels, of which I mention only a few. There is a substantive problem there which needs to be fixed. The multiple existing failures to communicate and comprehend XML technologies lead to unnecessary inefficiencies in the e-business setting. If e-business is to be measured in the near future in trillions of dollars can it be claimed that misunderstanding and misapplication of XML technologies is without major and increasing cost to e-businesses? XML (Extensible Markup Language), so it has been claimed, is a "subset" of SGML (the Standard Generalized Markup Language). SGML, for better or worse, is notorious for its complexity and lack of accessibility. XML did, at least initially, remove some of the complexities of SGML but to promote XML as a "simple format" is profoundly misleading. If XML ever was "simple", can it seriously be suggested that that remains true after the addition of SMIL, XSLT, XPath, RDF and XHTML and the soon emergence of SVG, XPointer, SMIL 2.0, SMIL Animation, CC/PP, Canonical XML, XML Digital Signatures etc? XML is not, for the vast majority of humankind, a "simple" format although it may be for some. Yet, even if the simplicity of format of XML were conceded that in no way means that there is simplicity or efficiency in usage. Computing is founded on the simplest of numerical formats ... zeroes and ones ... but who would claim that using that ultimately simple numerical format has led to computers which are simple, efficient or reliable? XML, so it has been claimed, is the "next generation HTML". Yet more misinformation or misunderstanding. It would be fairly accurate to claim that XML is the "next generation SGML" but that is a far less cosy image given the unfamiliarity and notorious complexity of SGML, as perceived by many Web developers. Much more convenient to put forward what is, at best, a half truth but one which has media impact and an appearance of familiarity. XML, like SGML, has no pre-defined vocabulary. Each is a "language without words" ... or a "meta-language". It would have been a significant improvement if SGML and XML had been explicitly identified as meta-languages. Potential students would have immediately recognised that such meta-languages raise issues not found in everyday communication. Perhaps the Extensible Markup MetaLanguage, XMML, although a more accurate term was thought not to have the same instant appeal. The problems of terminology and comprehension go deeper. For example, the notion of a "root" (with or without some qualifying term) appears in many XML-related Recommendations or drafts. Yet there is significant inconsistency in the usage of terms between XML technologies which inevitably leads to wasted development time and consequent (avoidable) costs to e-businesses. But other issues also arise. Not least is the sheer volume of material which needs to be mastered. XML on its own does, essentially, nothing. Let's add the approximately 90 pages of the XSLT Recommendation to express our XML as HTML or XHTML. Then we can add the 500 pages of the XSL-FO draft if we want the potential advantages of Web and paper output from the same source data. And if we want to illustrate our pages with Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images we can add another 492 pages of reading. But, let's not forget that SVG has dependencies on Cascading StyleSheets, CSS, has a variant Document Object Model, and is dependent on the SMIL Animation drafts for animation, which in turn has dependencies on the SMIL 1.0 Recommendation and the SMIL 2.0 Working Draft. Now, just who was it that claimed that XML was "simple"? The failure to communicate XML technologies as they actually are is impeding the W3C's declared objective of leading the Web to its full potential. There is a need for misunderstandings of XML technologies to be dispelled. XML is not, was not nor ever shall be "simple". XML is not the "next generation HTML". I firmly believe that XML technologies do have a potentially major role in e-business. It is time to move on from a stage of partisan enthusiasm to a mature, objective evaluation of the complexities and potential of XML technologies. XML technologies have, I believe, the strengths to withstand such scrutiny. It is sometimes suggested that W3C documents target only implementors. When, as XML technologies are increasingly adopted by e-businesses, the health or survival of a business depends on efficiency online ... a survival which may depend on savvy usage of XML technologies ... a wider, wiser more business-orientated approach is needed. Communication, at all levels, needs to be improved. For example: 1. Improve the expression of concepts in W3C documents. Take steps to improve accessibility for those not in the current elite. 2. Improve the integration between W3C activities 3. Move forward from hype about XML technologies to realistic appraisal of strengths and weaknesses 4. Initiate remedial action to improve communication of past W3C documents I am aware that W3C has begun to take steps in at least some of these directions. The issues are too important for tentative, partially funded initiatives, to suffice. XML technologies are too important to be allowed to be confined to an elite ghetto, as happened to SGML. Let's all work together to understand, communicate and apply the enormous potential of XML technologies and assist the W3C to lead the Web to its full potential. Andrew Watt 
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