XML Tutorial
Lesson 2: Authoring XML Documents

September 4, 1998

What is an XML document?

A basic XML document is simply an XML element that may (or may not) include nested XML elements.

For example, the XML element "books" below is a valid XML document.

<books>
  <book isbn="0345374827">
    <title>The Great Shark Hunt</title>
    <author>Hunter S. Thompson</author>
  </book>
</books>

Authoring guidelines

There are three key things to remember when constructing a basic XML document:

• All elements must have an end tag.
• All elements must be cleanly nested (overlapping elements is not allowed).
• All attribute values must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Try it!

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