Strengths and benefits

• platform and vendor independent
  • simple text files, no dependencies
• software-independent data lives longer
  • structured text files can be read by any version of any software
• separates content and structure from presentation
  • one metadata document, many views
• extensible - define your own markup language
  • eXtensible Markup Language
  • XML is based on SGML foundation - many years in publishing industry
  • XML limits some SGML features to be optimised for the WWW
  • allows definition of your own structure
• powerful presentation
  • applications and interfaces can be built directly from the structured metadata
  • draw on many SGML tools
• reliable document exchange
  • self-contained document carries content in a well-defined structure
  • the document carries a reference to rules about its own processing
  • can be read by both machines and humans

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