I get the sense that attributes in XML are one of the barriers to
cross-walking XML and RDF. So if we take an example like Bruce used in
his recent posting:

<mads xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.loc.gov/mads/mads.xsd">
    <authority>
       <topic authority="lcsh">Computer programming
       </topic>
    </authority>
    <related type="broader">
       <topic>Computers</topic>
    </related>
    <related type="narrower">
       <topic>Programming languages</topic>
    </related>
   <related type="other">
      <topic>Systems Analysis</topic>
   </related>
</mads>

.. would it be enough to make author and type sub-elements of the topic
elements, i.e.

    <mads xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.loc.gov/mads/mads.xsd">
    <authority>
       <topic>Computer programming
          <authorityList>lcsh</authorityList>
       </topic>
    </authority>
    <related>
       <topic>Computers
          <relatedType>broader</relatedType>
          <authorityList>lcsh</authorityList>
       </topic>
     </related>
etc.

And if that's all it would take, what is the downside of using this
style? Are there particular advantages to using attributes vs. elements?

-----------------------------------
Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
[log in to unmask] http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
------------------------------------