W3c Publishes Xml Stylesheet Langage Xsl

Computergram International, August 19, 1998

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published the first working draft of its Extensible Style Language (XSL) 1.0, leaving some developers muttering "What about Cascading Style Sheets?" Just for the record, the W3C wants to make it very clear that XSL is complementary to CSS. In the same way, it says, XML brought new features the were unavailable in HTML without necessarily making HTML obsolete.

The idea is that web authors should have various tools to hand for each job, one simple to learn and straightforward to use, the other perhaps less simple but with greater functionality and extensibility so as to be readily customizable. HTML and CSS are the basic tools, with XML and XSL intended as their industrial-strength cousins. The W3C goes on the say that CSS, already a mature standard, and XSL are to be based on a single formatting model. The two will share the same underlying concepts and use the same terminology as far as is possible. So what has XSL got that CSS hasn't? It can handle tree transformations as well as document transformations, it permits XML documents to be displayed in different ways in response to different user queries, and it can support many languages, including historical texts like ancient Greek and Aztec. "It's also designed to be used for print a little bit more than CSS," the W3C's Ian Jacobs explains. In addition, where CSS works with HTML or XML, XSL is optimized for use with XML. It does seem odd, though, that the W3C is out pushing a new stylesheet language when the newly formed Web Standards Group (CI No 3,471) is complaining that browser vendors aren't adhering closely enough to existing web standards. Jacobs agrees, but says: "The chances of support are improved as soon as the message is clearly understood that the W3C will be producing one formatting model." The working draft is now open to member and public scrutiny, so there's no telling how long it will take before a proposed recommendation is presented to the W3C.