---
title: "Why is XML such an important development?"  
description: "Why is XML such an important development?"  
author: "Anonymous User"  
published: 2011-05-18  
updated: 2020-09-17  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/interview/936/why-is-xml-such-an-important-development  
category: "xml"  
tags: ["xml"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Why is XML such an important development?

It removes two constraints which were holding back Web developments:\
1. dependence on a single, inflexible document type (HTML) which was being much abused for tasks it was never designed for;\
2. the complexity of full SGML, whose syntax allows many powerful but hard-to-program options.\
XML allows the flexible development of user-defined document types. It provides a robust, non-proprietary, persistent, and verifiable file format for the storage and transmission of text and data both on and off the Web; and it removes the more complex options of SGML, making it easier to program for.

## Answers

### Answer by Anonymous User

It removes two constraints which were holding back Web developments:\
1. dependence on a single, inflexible document type (HTML) which was being much abused for tasks it was never designed for;\
2. the complexity of full SGML, whose syntax allows many powerful but hard-to-program options.\
XML allows the flexible development of user-defined document types. It provides a robust, non-proprietary, persistent, and verifiable file format for the storage and transmission of text and data both on and off the Web; and it removes the more complex options of SGML, making it easier to program for.


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Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/interview/936/why-is-xml-such-an-important-development

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