Re: Advice on a web site using XML and XSL

>I am about to start quite a big web project and would appreciate some
>feedback on XML/XSL integration. Below IE5 and Netscape users will receive a
>similar interface.
>
>For IE5 users I want to make use of XML/XSL, espcecially for my more content
>orientated pages (company information, case studies etc...). My question is
>how much of my site I should develop using these and how much using
>HTML/CSS/behaviours etc... or should I integrate them both (experiences of
>doing this would be appreciated).
>
>Some examples I have looked at use an XML page which is styled using XSL
>which contains HTML/CSS and Javascipt. Is this the best way to do it? 
>
>Any example sites - even only IE5 compatable?
>
>Thanks
>Steven

If it's any help, there are a number of tools available at
http://alphaworks.ibm.com/ that may help. I haven't tried a lot of them, but
I know some people on the list are using LotusXSL, which can be had at the
site, and there are numerous other tools. Of particular interest in this
case may be XML Enabler (http://alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/xmlenabler). I
haven't tried it, but the developers call it a Java-based servlet that can
take calls from any browser, process the request via LotusXSL, then return
HTML files that can be read by any browser. It might be helpful if anyone
who has tried it let folks know how it's working for them.

If you're developing for the IE5 object model, you need to keep in mind that
you'll have to serve content in a way that it won't break in other browsers,
either by redirects (ugh!), ASP, or some other means, maybe including the
above mentioned servlet. 

As for using XSL versus CSS, it depends on what your goals are.

Chuck White
Creative Director
Advance Recruitment Advertising, Inc.
chuck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
650-261-1060
http://www.advancerecruitment.com
author of Internet Explorer 5 Developer's Guide. 
M&T Press, IDG Books Worldwide


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