The XPointer element() scheme is intended to be used with the XPointer Framework [XPtrFrame] to allow basic addressing of XML elements.

This specification defines the XML Pointer Language (XPointer) Framework, an extensible system for XML addressing that underlies additional XPointer scheme specifications. The framework is intended to be used as a basis for fragment identifiers for any resource whose Internet media type is one of text/xml, application/xml, text/xml-external-parsed-entity, or application/xml-external-parsed-entity. Other XML-based media types are also encouraged to use this framework in defining their own fragment identifier languages.

The XPointer xmlns() scheme is intended to be used with the XPointer Framework [XPtrFrame] to allow correct interpretation of namespace prefixes in pointers, for instance, namespace-qualified scheme names and namespace-qualified element or attribute names appearing within scheme data.

A URI reference may include an optional fragment identifier that consists of additional reference information to be interpreted by the user agent after the URI has been successfully retrieved. The format and interpretation of fragment identifiers is dependent on the media type of the retrieval result. The XML media type can therefore specify a fragment identifier syntax that takes advantage of the XML structure to define ways to point into an XML resource. This document recommends the adoption of a specific fragment identifier syntax for use with XML resources.

The XPointer xpointer() scheme is intended to be used with the XPointer Framework [XPtrFrame] to provide a high level of functionality for addressing portions of XML documents. It is based on XPath [XPath], and adds the ability to address strings, points, and ranges in accordance with definitions provided in DOM 2: Range.[DOM2]