Entrepreneurs have become familiar with using a simple language - HTML - hypertext markup language - to make documents available through the Internet or intranet servers. Today's more sophisticated audience has more specific needs which differ widely. They may want content on demand through Web applications. Their requests may stem from more than just a title or date of a document.

    To meet the demand, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has set out open mark?up language standards for structured documents - eXtensible Mark?up Language (XML). Get used to the term. You'll be seeing it a lot. Just enter "XML" in any search engine and see the number of results. Yes, something new to learn.

    XML language will have a deep impact on the exchange of structured data for years to come. Before long, you'll be using it on the network of your own company.

    While HTML is expected to remain a useful tool for storing and exchanging small, unstructured documents, XML will be the solution for exchanging tall and structured data across the Internet and intranets.

    Both languages have been standardized by the W3C. HTML and XML have a common ancestor: Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), standardized by ISO for defining and using portable document formats. Watch for more on XML, as it quickly grows in popularity and use.