Whether it is used for web development, creating documentation, or exchanging data between business partners, XML continues to grow in importance as a highly flexible document-design and data-modeling tool. Despite the limitations of using SGML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) to define document structures, XML has made inroads wherever data must flow among disparate platforms. The Schema specification has achieved W3C recommendation status, providing an alternative to DTDs that enables you to precisely structure XML data. But using the Schema Language does more than provide a more powerful way of defining data; it's also a better way because it uses XML's structure, syntax, and namespaces, instead of those derived from the complex SGML. XML Schemas introduces you to this elegant new technology, which brings the power of data modeling and data structuring to XML. A truly practical book has to give you more than just the details on syntax and semantics, examples of constructs and datatypes, and instruction in standard procedures. You get all that, but you'll also find lots of expert tips and techniques for document modeling, all reinforced with practical, real-world examples. Even as you're discovering the advantages of XML Schema, you'll learn about the continuing use of DTDs.

In some situations -- when designing document-oriented XML, for example -- DTDs might still be the way to go. You'll learn about visual XML Schema tools, but you'll also see how setting out armed with just a text editor gives you insights you might not acquire otherwise. It won't be long before you're developing your own XML Schema documents, using the power of XML to structure data for seamless, cross-platform exchange.