Odkazy a adresování v XML dokumentech

VELLUM attempts to provide a general-purpose solution to linking which addresses the complexities raised by the W3C's XPointer and XLink specifications by taking a very different approach. VELLUM does not assume that URIs and URI references are adequate to the task of identifying resources, representations, and fragments of representations, and strives to put XML hyperlinking on firmer but still approachable foundations. VELLUM supports and uses URIs and URI references, but offers options that extend those capabilities.

VELLUM is not a general-purpose solution to hypertext linking. VELLUM is intended to be used in cases where precision is important and verbosity is not a problem. While VELLUM could conceivably be mixed with other vocabularies and used to define links within them, it is not designed explicitly for such use. VELLUM is more appropriate for use in cases like external links and linkbases, where the links are stored separately from the resources they connect. (VELLUM's designer hopes that a simpler mechanism for in-line linking will emerge to complement VELLUM.)

VELLUM both builds on the URI framework and goes beyond the URI framework. URIs and URI references may be used within the VELLUM framework if the level of precision they provide is adequate, but developers can specify more information about issues like content-negotiation within the VELLUM framework if they choose. VELLUM also makes it possible to explicitly specify whether a connection involves an abstract resource or a particular concrete representation.

VELLUM also makes it possible for developers to create metadata which applies to their links in a local context. While XLink uses URIs for everything from href to arcrole, VELLUM lets developers use more intelligible identifiers whose meaning is defined within a particular VELLUM context. While VELLUM may be more verbose than a comparable XLink linkbase, it should (if designed thoughtfully) be more readable.