A Little More... - XML

If XML is to get anywhere near as popular as HTML is today, it needs to address a pretty basic requirement: the ability to connect different pieces of data together. Luckily, the W3C has a solution...and it's called XLink. Read on for the scoop.

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By: Vikram Vaswani, (c) Melonfire

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October 05, 2001

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And that's about it for this introduction to the wild and incredibly elastic world of XLink. In case you'd like to learn more about it, you should consider visiting the following links:

The W3C's XLink specification, at http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xlink-20010627/

XLink design principles, at http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/NOTE-xlink-principles-19980303

The XLink requirements specification, at http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-xlink-req

Zvon's XLink reference, at http://zvon.org/xxl/xlink/Output/xlink_refs.html

While the promise of XLink is tremedously exciting, there are as yet very few implementations of the technology, and so it's hard to truly grasp many of the applications that it makes possible. However, as the technology matures, expect to see XLinks gradually taking over from standard anchor tags, and data being linked in new and interesting ways.

Until that happens, though - stay healthy, and I'll see you soon!

Note: All examples in this article have been tested on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and the Fujitsu Link Processor. Examples are illustrative only, and are not meant for a production environment. YMMV!