> I have always believed mixed 
> content should
> be avoided where possible, but I have a few questions:
> 
> 1- Is there a concensus on this issue?  Is it really a problem?

Mixed content is what <emph>markup</emph> is all about. 
> 
> 2- From an xsl processing perspective, is text node 
> processing (such as
> text()[1]) equivalent to normal element processing?

Explain the question?
> 
> 3- Should this problem be dealt with at xml level, or should 
> it not matter to the xsl developer?
> 
It matters to both the XML author and the stylesheet author.

Michael Kay
Software AG
home: Michael.H.Kay@xxxxxxxxxxxx
work: Michael.Kay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

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