Processing XML with Perl

Michel Rodriguez

Examples of XML applications

XML for data

XHTML

What is XHTML?

XHTML (www.w3.org/MarkUp/) is a reformulation of HTML 4 in XML. XHTML comes in 3 flavors, you probably want to use the XHTML Transitional one.

XHTML documents use the same tags as HTML 4, using an XML syntax:

• all tags are in lower case
• tags cannot be ommitted
• tags have to be properly nested
• empty tags include a trailing slash, in order for older browsers to display properly empty tags a space should be inserted before the slash: <br />
• attribute names cannot be ommited
• all attribute values have to be quoted (single or double quotes)

Why bother with XHTML?

• it is easier for a lot of people to learn XHTML than HTML
• XML tools can be used on XHTML documents
• XHTML can be extended:
  - application specific elements ("data islands") can be added,
  - structural elements can be wrapped around XHTML elements

Examples of XML applications

XML for data