XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide

Rating:
Summary: Why XML?
Review: This is my third attempt at learning XML. And after reading this book I am still trying to answer this question: why do we need XML when we already have XHTML and CSS? Is XML just another whizz-bang technology for the egg heads? Others here have asked that same question.

Unfortunately, you will not receive any answers to this important question with Castro's book. She explains the <u>details</u> of XML very well but provides no real world examples of what XML is actually good for. This is like explaining the HTML tags in detail, but never really explaining what the purpose of HTML is. It would be better to start off by explaining that HTML is used to layout web pages for the world wide web and show us a few examples.

Also, the tiny, tiny font used to accompany the code snippet figures is hard to read without a magnifying glass (and it's in Italics too!). A bold face, font size +1 would have been much easier on the eyes. So be sure to have your reading glasses handy.

In the meantime, I will continue to search for a book, ANY book, which can explain to me just what XML is good for! It must be good for something, as I recognize the power of being able to define your own HTML or markup tags via XML. But this book, like some others I've read, fails to explain the "why" or "how" of it. I'll keep it as a nuts & bolts reference for later -- after I've learned why this technology was invented to begin with.

Castro's book can best be summed up with a her own understatement of words from p. 15. "Unfortunately, the reality of using XML is still not quite up to the vision."


Rating:
Summary: A Roadmap to the Future of Web Pages
Review: XML, as is explained in the book, is not ready for web pages. However, web page developments are evolving toward XML. Elizabeth Castro explains what that future would look like. This book is for you if you are thinking ahead in your web page development; I found it to be very helpful in understanding how XML will fit into the future. Don't bother reading it if you don't know and don't care what style sheets are.