XSLTtä

XSLTtä is a proposed extension of the Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) framework designed to address common limitations in traditional XSLT workflows. It envisions adding static typing, a modular development model, and enhanced error reporting to XML transformations while preserving the familiar XSLT processing model.

Key features include optional static type annotations for variables, parameters, and function results; a module system that supports explicit import and export of templates and functions to enable reuse across stylesheets; and improved diagnostics that report type mismatches and template resolution issues with precise locations in a stylesheet.

The design aims to remain compatible with existing XSLT tools by operating within or alongside a standard XSLT processing pipeline. XSLTtä would typically rely on an extension namespace or a separate processing mode to activate the typing and modular features, while standard XSLT 3.0 XPath expressions continue to be used for selection and computation.

Implementation status: XSLTtä is a theoretical concept with experimental prototypes in research environments. There is no standardized specification, and mainstream processors have not adopted it as part of official XSLT. Adoption challenges include portability concerns and the need for tooling to manage type information across modules.

Typical use cases include large-scale XML data integration projects, where strong typing can improve validation and tooling, and complex transformations requiring modular design and reuse across multiple stylesheets.