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Web Development
HTML vs XML: What’s the difference?
As a novice to coding and markup languages, it could be daunting to come across terms like HTML and XML frequently and comprehend the differences between the two.
While both are markup languages, their functions and usage are entirely different, often confusing people who hear the terms for the first time, giving away an impression that these are somehow related to each other.
Today, we shall clarify all the basics about both the languages and look into the major and important differences between the two, and throw light on which one to be used when.
Let’s begin by understanding the languages separately.
Table of Contents
What is HTML?
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) presents data and defines a web page’s composition. It is a programming language.
Hypertext promotes browsing the web by pointing to the hyperlinks present in an HTML page. The hyperlink permits access to any site on the internet by snapping it.
In general, markup language specifies tags used in a language and how they appear in a webpage.
It contains various HTML elements, including tags and their attributes. HTML facilitates the production of links of records while ignoring minute errors.
HTML helps make the text more vibrant and interactive.
HTML is a computer language employed to build websites available on the internet and is visible to anyone with an internet connection.
The tags are the terms between the special symbols <> and segregate regular text from HTML code.
These tags help in the creation of several objects on the web page like tables, images, sections, etc.
What is XML?
Extensible Markup Language, often abbreviated as XML, refers to a language designed by the W3C or World Wide Web Consortium.
XML promotes encoding records, determined by a set of precepts, in a readable form by both humans and machines.
XML describes the document composition by using tags explaining how it should be saved and moved.
It allows the formulation of web pages and applications, being a dynamic language that aids data transportation.
XML is in a simple text format and concentrates on universality, simplicity, and accessibility across the internet. Arbitrary data structures used in web services are often defined using XML.
Important differences
| HTML | XML |
|---|---|
| A markup language. | A standard markup language used to define other markup languages. |
| Not case sensitive | Case sensitive. |
| Can also be looked as a presentation language. | Neither a programming nor a presentation language. |
| Pre-defined tags are present. | Tag definition according to the programmer. |
| Closing tags not necessary. | Mandates usage of closing tags. |
| Static language. | Dynamic language. |
| Displays data. | Transfers data. |
Why is the chaos?-Which one to choose?
The chaos arose because of the development of several languages and XML being more developer-friendly.
However, their usage is pretty much different when compared to each other, hence, HTML is often employed when the usage of pre-defined tags seems favorable and the major purpose is displaying of the data and just browsing; whereas XML is usually used when a more complex web application is needed and the developer plans to define her own tags and the main purpose is the transportation of data rather than the display of it.
Conclusion
Both XML and HTML have their own pros and cons and must be used according to their functionalities. You don’t have to be any more confused about the description, definitions, or usage of them.
