Is there a point creating a site using XSLT [close

Question

Is this technology still popular?

I want to make a website which automatically transforms XSLT files. It should work like this: When a user accesses the site, a single handler would accept his request and then find a suitable XML for it (according to the URL requested) and transform it using its attached XSL file.

I want to do this in order to make it easy to update the site using plain XML files (instead of using a full-fledged & expensive CMS system).

What do you say? good idea? bad idea? anyone has a recommendation?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I like the idea. XSL is a fantastic tool, but you have to have that special moment of enlightenment before you realise how useful it really is. Before that it just seems so-so.

I have used XSL in a variety of applications and it has saved me a lot of time. But obviously dont just use it for the sake of it.

Answer 2

XSLT is just one method of templating. It is also just one piece of a complete MVC framework, where templating being the View component. XSLT is a great technology, but it's slow and not a first choice on building a scalable web site.

Research on MVC frameworks to see which one fits you best. e.g. ASP.NET MVC, Ruby on Rails, CakePHP, Catalyst, etc.

Answer 3

xslt is hard?

It's a programmers job to tackle complex problems and complex standards. There's stuff that is way harder and still needed. Just keep going at it and get's easier each time you need to learn new stuff.

Xslt is easy.

Really! There are good books out there that teach you xslt. Just learn e.g. rdf/owl (a w3c standard) and it can still get much more complex...

xslt is slow? Just use the right caching if you can. (ok, its not always possible...).

Just read about REST (some book or Roy Fielding dissertation) that's essential stuff too.

Now with XProc (xslt piplines) and a small restserver around calabash (Xproc implementaion) you can archive so much. it can definitly save you time. any data can be exportet to XML, made aviliable via REST and transformed with XProc.

Answer 4

I want to do this in order to make it easy to update the site using plain XML files (instead of using a full-fledged & expensive CMS system).

Er, what? There are many free and open-source CMSs.

What spoulson said above about templating is the point. Providing output pages from input XML files is fine. But that doesn't get you a CMS. What about C.R.U.D.? Search? Page listings?

If your site is so small that all the relevant updating can be done by you hand-editing some XML files, then why not, go for it. But if it's that simple you might as well just edit HTML by hand.

Answer 5

If your platform is ASP.NET check out myxsl

XSLT gives you the ability to do unobtrusive templating, which is IMO the ultimate kind of templating.

Answer 6

Sounds like a bad idea to me. It's much easier to use something like ASP.NET with the content stored in a database - you can then update the content directly into the database - which in itself will be easier than editing the XML.