Understanding XML: Elements vs Attributes

[DaveC426913]

What's the design difference between elements and attributes? What I'm asking is: what makes you decide that something should be an element versus an attribute?

<pet>
  <name>Spike</name>
</pet>

i.e: which is better?

<pet name="Spike">
</pet>

Does the difference lie in the fact that 'Spike' is likely to be user-facing content - as opposed to some behind-the-scenes value such as a width of 200?

 

[MeJennifer]

Perhaps this can help: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-eleatt.html"

I do not believe the answer is clear cut.

 

[DaveC426913]

Thank you. The fact that this is a common question is good to know. And I do seem to be right on the money:

You can use either, it's a matter of design and practicality which you decide to use. But in general, the rule of thumb seems to be:
"...data goes in elements, metadata in attributes..."

 

[-Job-]

Generally, i prefer attributes, unless the data is large or when the data may contain some special characters, such as <, >, in which case i opt for text nodes with <![CDATA[...]]>.