Q&A

Q With DSSSL and XSL around, why bother with CSS at all?

A DSSSL is more of a processing language than a style language. XSL has not yet been fully specified and will not be supported for quite a while. CSS is the lowest common denominator of all style languages, but it is also the best supported. In the short term, rendering XML using CSS can be a viable alternative to waiting.

Q Why XSL and CSS? Surely one style language is enough.

A CSS is designed for use with HTML. XSL is designed for use with XML. XML is not intended to replace HTML (although it might), and XSL is not intended to replace CSS (although it probably will). XML needs to be backward compatible and so it also has to support CSS properties, but CSS still provides a quicker and much simpler way of attaching style to HTML elements. However, possible Microsoft extensions to CSS (such as CSS behaviors) may lead to CSS continuing in a niche of its own.

Q What is to be gained from mixing XML elements with HTML elements in the same document?

A Web browsers are hardwired to recognize HTML tags and render the text that follows accordingly. You can trick a browser into applying its default formatting to XML elements by using the names of HTML elements. This saves you from having to explicitly specify the style.

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]