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Re: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type

• From: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@simonstl.com>
• To: "Rushforth, Peter" <Peter.Rushforth@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca>
• Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:15:02 -0400

On 4/16/12 3:22 PM, Rushforth, Peter wrote:
> Hi Liam,
>
>> The goal was to put SGML on the Web. It was difficult to use SGML
>> on the Web at the time.
>
> XML on the web is difficult, so I would say XML has fallen short of
> this goal in at least one respect:  it's not a hypermedia format.
> You don't have to get 100% on the exam to be a success, so I'm not
> saying XML is a failure, but there's room for improvement.

You're being kind.  XML failed in its original mission, and its original 
set of markup, style, and linking didn't work out.

XML failed.  It failed in the spectacular way that led to all kinds of 
other successes.  It didn't change the Web the way it planned, but it 
made people reevaluate practically everything they were doing.

After a few missteps into RPC, XML made REST (and now RESTful 
hypermedia, though rarely XLinked) plausible at a time when people 
couldn't imagine how something so simple-minded might work.  After a few 
battles with relational database purists, XML made it clear that more 
chaotic structures had a place in data interchange and I suspect freed 
things up enough for the NoSQL movement to find traction.

In its document homeland, XML's simplifications made it easier for 
markup-based toolchains to thrive and grow, enabling ever more content 
to be processed more flexibly.

The early XML folks may have found HTML to be not what they wanted, and 
seriously lacking in many respects, and the people driving the HTML 
conversation today return the disdain.  XLink and XPointer have 
statistically insignificant user bases, so clearly something misfired.

What a misfire!

Thanks,
-- 
Simon St.Laurent
http://simonstl.com/

• Follow-Ups:
  • RE: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: "Len Bullard" <Len.Bullard@ses-i.com>

• References:
  • xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: "Rushforth, Peter" <Peter.Rushforth@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca>
  • Re: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: Andrew Welch <andrew.j.welch@gmail.com>
  • RE: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: "Rushforth, Peter" <Peter.Rushforth@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca>
  • RE: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: Liam R E Quin <liam@w3.org>
  • RE: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: "Rushforth, Peter" <Peter.Rushforth@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca>
  • RE: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: Liam R E Quin <liam@w3.org>
  • RE: xml:href, xml:rel and xml:type
    • From: "Rushforth, Peter" <Peter.Rushforth@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca>