A review of Visual-XML, XML Authority, XML Spy, XMetaL, and
XML Pro, by Oliver Rist, “contributing technical editor at
InternetWeek and technical director of Grand Central Networks
Labs.”
“while we loved the fact that we could edit and validate DTDs,
with XML Spy, we were a bit disturbed that it manages this feat
only via Microsoft’s MSXML Parser. For the moment, this is still a
fairly standards-neutral solution, but, given Microsoft’s track
record in the open Web standards department, we’re leery of MSXML
as a long-term standard.”
“Available only as a Web download, XML Spy is quickly gaining
attention in the shareware community.”
“In this roundup, SoftQuad Software Inc.’s XMetaL stands out
from the rest of the pack in that it’s not just a generic XML
development tool. This package was designed to let
non-XML-proficient writers create XML content or data as easily as
they would use a word processor. In fact, we’d classify the product
as an XML word processor. While the results attainable by using it
aren’t perfect, they’re pretty close. XMetaL represents a great
step in the direction of broad audience XML usability.”