Although I find XML to be much too cumbersome and bloated for any practical situation I can still understand the technical arguments in favor of using it. What I don't understand is why anyone would choose XSLT over a full featured scripting language like PHP, ASP, JSP or similar. As you obviously have much more experience than I in this field can you provide an example where XSLT would be the preferred choice?
No dynamic server-side templating language, easily transformable to other XML formats (docbook, atom (see front page of registry)). If the user/client has libxml, the processor command is already installed. The specifications are now provided in an application specific format that is language-agnostic instead of manually maintained ad hoc HTML. The extension registry index page is now automatically generated into static HTML instead of manual HTML+JavaScript for sorting the lists.
Finally, the restricted power of XSLT is an advantage for this application vs PHP, ASP, or JSP. If browsers actually implemented web technologies like XSLT, sending XML specs and generating HTML on the client side with cached XSLT would save bandwidth.
If you want store your data in a validateable, language agnostic way, why not apply the same logic to your transformations and templates?
...there are a million oft-argued reasons why not, but that's one line of thinking that will lead you to do it.
These discussion always remind me of my favorite old Slashdot quote: "XML is like violence. If it's not solving your problem, you're not using enough of it."
