dive into mark

Humans should not have to grok XML. [via WebWord.com] The author makes good points about when not to use XML:

• When your problem is very simple
• When it would generate humongous files
• When your app is a “one-off”
• When you need to use Unix line-oriented text processing tools

To this I would add:

• When your tools don’t support it. I’m thinking specifically of Oracle’s SQL*Loader here. In the project I’m working on now at my day job, all of the inter-program communication we do is through SQL*Loader control files to import other people’s flat files. Many of the flat files come from Excel, which can not export to XML, and (as far as I know, correct me if I’m wrong) SQL*Loader can not import from XML.
• When your problems are social, not technical. Clay Shirky makes this point: Incompatibility exists not because companies can’t figure out how to cooperate with one another, but because they don’t want to cooperate with one another. XML will not help you there.

Don’t get me wrong; I love XML. My book is written in DocBook XML, a complex DTD specifically for technical writing. Because I was forward-thinking enough to choose XML and put up with the extra pain of putting together a working environment and toolset, I can now publish my book in 6 different formats. And when people translate the book (like the French), I can publish their translation in 6 different formats too. That’s way cool, and it’s an appropriate use of XML. But it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t fun, and many of the potential translators who approach me turn away or give up because of the added complexity.

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