What is XML, and Why Should You Care?--McIlroy

Let's say a publisher wanted to specify that a QuarkXPress file should be printed four-color in a quantity of 10,000, trimmed and bound saddled-stitched, and then shipped by next Friday to its Chicago warehouse. All of those instructions could also be coded with XML tags, and included in the same file with the QuarkXPress graphic data. The possibility for error declines, as the efficiency increases. The possibilities for full print automation expand rapidly.