xbiz world
xbiz premiere
educational

XML For Christmas

With Halloween costumes being put away and Thanksgiving decorations going up, there is a clear reminder that Christmas is approaching, and fast. You start to think of all the presents you need to buy and the additional expenses that will be wiping your wallet clean. This is right when adult webmastering seems to be an attractive endeavor. The money is good and your knowledge of HTML allows you to build the web site and maintain it. And voila’, your Christmas spirit is in full bloom because your money problems are solved.

That is if you believe the myth. First of all, being an adult webmaster is not an easy way out, as it’s going to take a lot more than HTML knowledge to make some money – namely, business savvy. Secondly, being adept in HTML only gets you so far.

HTML is confining and if you want to keep up with the rest of the developers out there, you better start thinking beyond the sphere of HTML and into the hands of XML. Extensible Markup Language – or XML – overcomes the limitations of SGML and HTML, the two markup languages that preceded the almighty XML.

XML is a simple, flexible text format that was born out of the need to define a markup language with the power and extensibility of SGML yet possessed the simplicity of HTML. So the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sponsored an XML Working Group to toil over this new endeavor and on February 10, 1998, the W3C approved Version 1.0 of the XML specification.

Now, we are no longer constrained by the dependence on a single, inflexible and much abused document type – HTML – that was being utilized in ways it was never intended in the hopes of disseminating data. And XML moves us away from the complexity of full SGML, whose syntax is powerful and more difficult to implement than the more flexible and streamlined format of XML.

So what does XML give you that HTML doesn’t?

  • Global reach - access trading partners worldwide.
  • Marketing capability - integrates marketing with commerce.
  • Multi-to-multi transactions - negotiate/trade with many trading partners at the same time.
  • Start at the desktop - work end to end.
  • Low-cost installations - can be as simple as adding browsers.
  • Lower-cost integration with XML.
  • Integration with vertical marketplaces/content services.

XML offers a standardized way to describe and work with data. It allows you to create XML vocabularies that are customized for describing their own particular data structures. For instance, if you are writing software for a video store, a movie star attribute might come in handy when describing certain elements that can be used when describing the movie.

Once developers harness the power of XML to describe their data, they can easily interoperate with any other system that also understands XML. Likewise, developers can integrate data from any other system as long as it's also described as using XML. A developer who leverages XML no longer needs to worry about platform, operating system, language, or data store differences when communicating with other systems. XML becomes the least common denominator for system interoperability.

At Sex.Com, we share hundreds of XML feeds with our partners and affiliates, as it allows us to uniquely monitor their traffic. Thanks to XML, we can parse a large volume of traffic, and all the while generate revenue for all parties.

In a nutshell, XML allows advertisers and webmasters alike the ability to monetize their online traffic and other data by communicating through a common language that can be adapted by many, while remaining flexible to the specific needs of the user.

Remember, if you’re setting out to develop your adult site, make sure XML is a part of your vocabulary, or at least on your Christmas list.

Copyright © 2026 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

profile

LoyalFans' Anastasia Pierce Bridges Creator Education, Empowerment and Ownership

Anastasia Pierce beams when she talks about her 26 years in the industry. Full of passionate energy, she clearly doesn’t just work in adult; she loves it.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Growing Site Revenue Under Ever-Changing Compliance Rules

Over the past year, many merchants have reported earnings that were flat or even a bit down. This is due to three main factors: age verification regulations, click-to-cancel rules, and banks backing away from cross-sales due to regulatory requirements and the rollout of the Visa Acquiring Monitoring Program (VAMP).

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

AI Safeguards for Platform Compliance and Trust

If your platform hosts user-generated content (UGC), then you already know protecting your brand is not merely a matter of good design or strong community guidelines. It requires systems that can verify who your users are, filter what they upload and ensure your business stays on the right side of regulators, payment processors and public opinion.

Christoph Hermes ·
opinion

How to Eliminate User Redirects and Improve Checkout Retention

Running an adult site, you work hard to create traffic and make sure your funnel is optimal, with the end goal of getting users to make a purchase. Then, right at that critical moment, what do you do? You send them somewhere else. Not good.

Jonathan Corona ·
profile

Stripchat's Jessica on Building Creator Success, One Step at a Time

At most industry events, the spotlight naturally falls on the creators whose personalities light up screens and social feeds. Behind the booths, parties and perfectly timed photo ops, however, there is someone else shaping the experience.

Jackie Backman ·
opinion

Inside the OCC's Debanking Review and Its Impact on the Adult Industry

For years, adult performers, creators, producers and adjacent businesses have routinely had their access to basic financial services curtailed — not because they are inherently higher-risk customers, but because a whole category of lawful work has long been treated as unacceptable.

Corey Silverstein ·
opinion

How to Build Operational Resilience Into Your Payment Ecosystem

Over the past year, we’ve watched adult merchants weather a variety of disruptions and speedbumps. Some even lost entire revenue streams overnight — simply because they relied too heavily on a single cloud provider that suffered an outage, lacked sufficient redundancy and failover, or otherwise fell short when it came to making sure their business was protected in case of unwelcome surprises.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

Building a Stronger Strategy Against Card-Testing Bots

It’s a scenario every high-risk merchant dreads. You wake up one morning, check your dashboard and see a massive spike in transaction volume. For a fleeting moment, you’re excited at the premise that something went viral — but then reality sets in. You find thousands of transactions, all for $0.50 and all declined.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

A Creator's Guide to Starting the Year With Strong Financial Habits

Every January brings that familiar rush of new ideas and big goals. Creators feel ready to overhaul their content, commit to new posting schedules and jump on fresh opportunities.

Megan Stokes ·
profile

Pornnhub's Jade Talks Trust and Community

If you’ve ever interacted with Jade at Pornhub, you already know one thing to be true: Whether you’re coordinating an event, confirming deliverables or simply trying to get an answer quickly, things move more smoothly when she’s involved. Emails get answered. Details are confirmed. Deadlines don’t drift. And through it all, her tone remains warm, friendly and grounded.

Women In Adult ·
Show More