In the time since HTML first strolled onto the scene, new advancements have been made that were both innovative and misguided. At Dell, XML was used in the latest design of its multimillion-dollar Web site, and it looks like XML is here to stay. Several key differences set XML apart from the myriad of other Web programming languages. The Bottom Line is Data XML was developed to create a way for different machines to communicate data to each other, without regard for the presentation of that data. With XML, the data is the bottom line.
Presentation is dictated later.
But with XML, the data content of the sentence is the primary consideration. The presentation of XML is dictated later through the use of an XML schema, something similar to an HTML style sheet. Later, an XML style sheet would merge with the XML code to decide how this content should appear in a Web-based environment. The XML Schema Determines Form XML schemas are referenced at the top of XML pages and are utilized when XML code is compiled into its final output format. The schema for the above example could dictate that, when presented, a sentence must be built using subjects, verbs, and predicates in the correct order.