In XSD, SOAP and other XML conventions you'll often see things like:
<book>
<title>Harry Potter</title>
<author>J.K. Rowling</author>
</book>
Now I'm wondering, what happened to attributes? To me it makes more sense to write this as:
<book title="Harry Potter" author="J.K. Rowling" />
But apparently, for some reason, smarter people than me chose otherwise. Could someone explain why, and what attributes are for then?
Some people consider the difference a matter of personal preference. There are a few guidlines out there you can follow.