XML?Defining Documents on the 'Net

HTML is an application of SGML.

For commercial printers, notably high-end catalog printers that repurpose wares onto glitzy Internet pages for continued sales appeal, XML, a nonproprietary standard, will become quite a considerable player in everyday operations.

"A catalog publisher that is repurposing data for the World Wide Web can use XML to mix and match information in ways not possible with HTML," reports Frank Gilbane, a director at CAP Ventures, a Norwell, MA-based research firm. "XML is designed to solve the main limitations of HTML without the complexities that a full SGML would carry with it."