Explore a powerful XML editor that runs natively on Linux.
Thursday, February 1st, 2007
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Open source has changed the world we live in, but (with some exceptions, known as “ Debian users”) Linuxers cannot live by open source alone. Sometimes it’s necessary to use a proprietary application. Why? Because often you need the best program for the job — be it open or closed source.
If you’re utterly opposed to closed source software, skip this particular column. Otherwise, you’ll find the software described below very useful.
Excited about XML
To trot out a well-worn cliche one more time, XML is rapidly becoming the lingua franca of data storage and interchange. However, creating XML in the first place can be an absolute chore. Even for those who grok XML, the prospect of manually typing every angle bracket and data point is mind-numbing at best and potentially hellish at worst. Surely there must be a better way!
Indeed, there is. In the same way that there are WYSIWYG editors for word processing and Web pages, there are WYSIWYG editors for XML documents. The question is, which one is best?
Most Linux distros make several free, open source XML editors available, including KXML Editor and Conglomerate XML Editor for KDE and GNOME, respectively, as well as Xerlin XML Editor, Jaxe, and many others. All are good and have unique strengths, and are worth a look. However, the best overall XML editor is XMLmind XML Editor (XXE), available at
