XML Software Guide
Last Modified: July 29, 2000
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In the first article in this XML series, entitled XML: Structuring Data for the Web: An Introduction, we saw that XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is really a trio of specifications -- XML syntax, XLL (XML Linking Language), and XSL (eXtensible Style Language). In last month's article, Next Generation HTML: The Big Picture, we explored how various specifications (HTML4, DHTML, CSS, DOM, XML, etc.) fit into the efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
This month, our focus turns to software currently available for XML: editors, parsers, database support, APIs, and special-purpose software. With a few noteworthy exceptions[1], we have limited our guide to tools which have appeared in 1998, or have been updated in 1998. Since the XML 1.0 Recommendation wasn't finalized until February 10, 1998, we felt older tools might reflect syntax which is no longer correct; there were several eleventh-hour changes in the XML specification. (For those who wish to peruse lists that do not impose this restriction, we've also included a section of other XML-related software lists.) Since XML is a rapidly growing area of Web development, we will be updating our XML Software Guide periodically, so check back each month.
To help you quickly zero in on the tools that are right for you, we've indicated whether or not the tool is a commercial product, as well as the platforms for which it is available. You will notice that much of the XML software is either written in, or meant to be used with, Java. For example,
[freeware for all Java platforms]
means that the software can be downloaded free of charge and should run on any platform that supports Java (i.e., UNIX, Windows, or Mac), although a certain version of the JDK (Java Development Kit) may be required.
You've probably seen countless Web authoring tools lists before. However, with XML, editing tools is far from the whole story. Since XML is ideal for applications external to browsers [2], as well as for specialized data-centric web pages, separate parsers and APIs are necessary.
This software guide uses a number of acronyms which are explained in the Acronym Expander, which also includes links to more information on each term.
- What's New - software added to this guide since July 1998
- XML and XSL Editors
- XML Parsers
- XML Browsers
- XML Database, Content Management and Desktop Publishing Tools
- XML APIs
- Specialized XML Software
- IBM XML Software from alphaWorks
- Additional XML Software Resource Lists
1: One such exception is Microsoft's XML parser, MSXML, which enables Internet Explorer 4.x to handle XML documents, although (at the time of this writing) the parser has not been (publicly) updated since December, 1997.
2: The reasons for the applicability of XML to non-browser applications are presented in XML: Structuring Data for the Web: An Introduction.
XML Software Guide: XML and XSL Editors
