W3C issues XML recommendations

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Wednesday announced the publication of two W3C recommendations regarding Extensible Markup Language (XML), which are aimed at standardizing more features of the language.

The consortium recommended XML Linking Language (XLink), a method of creating and describing hyperlinks, which supports both traditional HTML and extended links. XLink allows XML authors to add links that provide more functionality than traditional HTML links. For example, a single link created using XLink could take users to multiple locations. HTML has "unidirectional links," which means that each link only goes to a single location.

The second recommendation by W3C concerned XML Base, a method that saves programmers from having to type a URL repeatedly into a document. By making a specific URL a "base" URL, programmers can insert it in a document using a shortened version of it. For example, if a programmer has made www.abcdef.com the base URL, instead of having to type www.abcdef.com/test.xml, the author could just refer to test.xml.

A W3C recommendation indicates that a specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability and has been reviewed by the W3C membership, which comprises more than 500 academic, industry and research organizations.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

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