By Carol King, InternetNews.com
The World Wide Web Consortium
this week moved to standardize XML hyperlinks.
XML Linking Language (XLink) Version 1.0 allows elements to be
inserted into Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents to create
and describe links between resources. The XML syntax creates
structures that can not only describe links similar to the simple
unidirectional hyperlinks of today’s HTML, but go well beyond.
Along with providing linking data structures, XLink additionally
provides a minimal link behavior model. Therefore, higher level
applications layered on XLink will often specify alternate or more
sophisticated rendering and processing treatments.
XLink provides a framework for creating both basic
unidirectional links and more complex linking structures, according
to the WC3. It allows XML documents to assert linking relationships
among more than two resources, associate metadata with a links and
express links that reside in a location separate from the linked
resources.
“This is a useful and important time in the development of the
XML family of technologies,” said Janet Daly, WC3 spokesperson. “It
proves the technology’s viability, stability and
extensibility.”
The Working Group believes that, if approved, XML will:
- Enable internationalized media-independent electronic
publishing. - Allow industries to define platform-independent protocols for
the exchange of data, especially the data of electronic
commerce. - Deliver information to user agents in a form that allows
automatic processing after receipt. - Make it easier to develop software to handle specialized
information distributed over the Web. - Make it easy for people to process data using inexpensive
software. - Allow people to display information the way they want it, under
style sheet control. - Make it easier to provide metadata — data about information —
that will help people find information and help information
producers and consumers find each other.
The XML Linking Working Group released the
recommendation this week. It is available for public review
until October 3.
“The Working Group is asking developers to look at the document,
experiment and give us feedback,” Daly said. “We are also hoping to
see open source implementation, which is important for the success
of a specification.”
Comments should be sent to the public mailing
list.
The XLink recommendation follows a related specification, XML
Pointer, which addresses the discrete sections of an XML
document.