One key piece of the XML puzzle that has consistently driven me crazy is the
lack of explanation for which part of an application is supposed to handle
which part of processing. A simple application might well combine the parser
and the application, while others will provide separate services, perhaps
allowing users to choose any (reasonably generic) parser they like, a styling
engine, a set of linking rules, and perhaps a set of tools for viewing and
manipulating data, perhaps even editing it.
I'd really like to see something on the order of the OSI model Rick mentioned
that describes these possibilities and the relevant standards. To those of us
new to the glories of flow objects and groves, which part handles what is
something of a mystery. Is there a road map out there, or is it time to build
one?
Simon St.Laurent
Dynamic HTML: A Primer / XML: A Primer (January) / Cookies (February)