XML and HTML

Programming enthusiasts and developers have already heard of the two languages XML and HTML. However, you might not be aware of all the differences between these two languages and what they offer to users. Let us take a look at how they are different from each other and how their features and offerings make them the perfect choice depending on the situation. 

What is XML?

XML stands for eXtensible  Markup Language that is mainly used for storing data. It is popular for enabling data transfer and it allows users to define markup elements and generate customized markup language.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and it is a powerful language that helps developers create and design web pages and web applications. Developers have to use a variety of tags and attributes for defining the layout and structure of the web document.

XML Main Features

XML provides developers a concrete framework that can be used to define markup languages for easy and simple use. Some of the main features offered by XML are provided below:

1. It is case-sensitive and treats uppercase and lowercase letters differently.
2. It has a defined structure and syntax that users have to follow for defining their project or work.
3. XML tags are not predefined and can be defined based on how the user wishes to customize and use them. However, they need to be closed properly for the program to run. 
4. It follows a well-structured coding format, which makes it easy to read and understand. 
5. It allows the use of white spaces while writing code. 
6. XML provides support for namespaces and reduces the risk of namespace collision errors that might occur when combining documents.
7. XML files are saved with the file extension .xml and they need a proper editor for editing.

Advantages of XML

XML has been in use for quite some time and it has proven to be extremely useful and advantageous in different situations. Let us see the features that make it a good choice for developers and designers.

1. XML makes the platform change process easy, hence it is a great choice for web developers who often look to their platform for a variety of reasons. 
2. It makes document transportation across systems and applications easy and also makes inter-platform exchanges smooth. 
3. XML separates the data from the design part of a web page which is handled by HTML. 

HTML Main Features

HTML is a popular language because of its features, some of which are mentioned below. 

1. It is not case-sensitive and treats uppercase and lowercase letters in a similar fashion.
2. It is very simple to understand because of its easy syntax and easy-to-understand tags.
3. HTML tags are predefined and cannot be defined according to the user’s needs. Though some tags have to be closed, many exist which do not need not be necessarily closed, however, it is a good coding habit to do so. 
4. It has a very flexible format and lets users and developers link parts of their code content to link to other hyperlinks. 
5. It strictly prohibits the use of white spaces in the code, using them might lead to errors. 
6. HTML provides support for namespaces and namespace collision errors can only be avoided by using prefixes in an object name or by nesting objects. 
7. HTML files are saved with the file extension .html and even basic code editors like notepad can be used for editing HTML code. 

Advantages of HTML

The main advantages that HTML has to offer to its users are listed below. 

1. HTML document browser interface is very simple and easy to build, hence making it a great choice for beginners. 
2. The simple syntax and simple interface make it easy to understand. 
3. A variety of colors, objects and layouts can be used to design a page. 
4. Tags help in making an HTML file very easy to read and understand.

Conclusion

Now that you know the differences between these two languages, it should help you choose the better one for your requirements. It would be wrong to select one to be better than the other because they offer different features and have their own purposes. There are many such programming terms and languages which seem to be similar or very different from each other, yet they need to coexist because they depend on each other for solving problems.