Jamis Buck wrote: > > Yup, that was the rule. If a node has children, it's value should be an > attribute. Otherwise, it's value should be a sub-element. Why? In this example <name value="Jamis Gordon /Buck/"> <surn>Buck</surn> <givn>Jamis Gordon</givn> </name> it appears that the value attribute can be derived from the immediate children. Or vice versa. Why the duplication? And why the embedded pseudo-markup in the value attribute ( e.g., the use of '/')? value="Jamis Gordon /Buck/" Is there a spec for this XML format, or is this deliberately tricky to make it more challenging? James