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Re: When Empty is Everything

• To: Dean Snyder <dean.snyder@j...>
• Subject: Re: When Empty is Everything
• From: Betty Harvey <harvey@e...>
• Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 17:55:50 -0500 (EST)
• Cc: xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: <20031204214600.17527@s...>

On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Dean Snyder wrote:

> My question is why not just use empty tags for everything? And if that
> works why have non-empty tags at all? (I'm aware of the argument for XML
> parsing simplicity.)
> 
> One of my main concerns is data archivability and recoverability, even
> data fragment recoverability. For these reasons I want metadata that is
> human readable, inline, and practically self-documenting.

Elements vs. attribute discussions have been going on for a very long
time.  You might want to look at this URL for some insight:

http://xml.coverpages.org/elementsAndAttrs.html

Using only empty elements doesn't work well for manuscripts or
documents because documents have mixed content.

Good luck!

Betty

-- 
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Betty Harvey                         | Phone: 410-787-9200 FAX: 9830
Electronic Commerce Connection, Inc. |
Glen Burnie, MD                      |
harvey@e...                    | Washington,DC XML Users Grp
URL:  http://www.eccnet.com          | http://www.eccnet.com/xmlug
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• References:
  • When Empty is Everything
    • From: "Dean Snyder" <dean.snyder@j...>

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