Chapter 12
Common Examples of XML
Examples
Note: I've had much more luck viewing these files locally than on the Web. I can't figure out why. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
SMIL
SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) is a language designed for controlling multimedia objects. More specifically, SMIL is designed to control the layout of the objects and their timing; synchronization is a big part of SMIL.
SMIL is so large that its inventors decide to break into modules with specific functions. SMIL is a highly modularized specification. For example, there's a module that handles basic animation and another that handles sound level. Some modules contain many element and attributes that can be used, and some contain just a single attribute. Here's a list of all of the groups of modules in SMIL.
- Animation Modules
- ContentControl Modules
- Layout Modules
- Linking Modules
- Timing and Synchronization Module
- MediaObjects Modules
- Metainformation Module
- Structure Module
- TimeManipulations
- TransitionEffects
SVG
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an XML format that allows you to describe vector-based shapes, objects and animations. The result of an SVG file and an SVG plug-in is something that looks much like Flash. Flash is still much more popular: about 98 percent of all browsers have some form of Flash plug-in; by contrast SVG has only a 2 percent penetration.
SVG was not written for people to be able to read and understand it. For example, here's a line of SVG (it's a little squiggle).
You'll probably never see SVG code—chances are a program you're using, like Adboe's Illustrator, will output SVG automatically for you. Even Flash may do it one day.
WDDX
WDDX (Web Distributed Data Exchange) is a way to encode a number of different forms of data and send them as text. It's a precursor to SOAP, and although it gained a loyal following, for some reason it never really took off.