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>Many applications I've seen, and a few that I have created, don't validate >the XML against a DTD. > >Is the DTD an extra step, inherited from SGML, that doesn't really fit XML? > The real value of a DTD is as a check on the author, to make sure that the document has a consistent structure. If I am searching through a document using the DOM it is always nice to know that myDoc.firstChild.lastChild.firstChild.nodeValue will access the content of the same kind of element. If I am building a document by machine I will not always use a DTD, but if a fallible human has access to the document it should always be validated after any 'hand-rolled' change is made. That way I know that my document has a consistent structure. In summary when I am authoring a document I will always check its validity, but when displaying a document I will not check it for validity, only for well formedness. Frank Frank Boumphrey XML and style sheet info at Http://www.hypermedic.com/style/index.htm Author: - Professional Style Sheets for HTML and XML http://www.wrox.com CoAuthor: XML applications from Wrox Press, www.wrox.com Author: Using XML on the Web (March) ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Holle <dan@h...> To: <xml-dev@i...> Sent: Saturday, February 06, 1999 4:56 PM Subject: DTD: Extra Complexity? xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; (un)subscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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