Simon Willison’s Weblog

Minimal XML

18th June 2002

Minimal XML is a subset of XML 1.0; including features essential for data interchange applications, and excluding non-essential features that are arcane, legacy-related, problematic for data interchange applications, or redundant.

Goals:

• A subset that allows easily implemented parsers that are much faster and smaller than full XML parsers.
• A subset with simpler information model that can easily be mapped to other information models.
• A subset that is much easier to learn, teach, and use.

Minimal XML is a project of SML-DEV, who describe themselves as a group of over 125 XML experts working to create simple XML standards and to simplify existing XML.