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In 2011, Mike Bostock, one of the creators of D3.js remarked on XSLT:

XSLT’s approach is elegant, but only for simple transformations: without high-level visual abstractions, nor the flexibility of imperative programming, XSLT is cumbersome for any math-heavy visualization task (e.g., interpolation, geographic projection or statistical methods).

At the time of writing this question, XSLT has gone through 2 major revisions, yet is still not widely associated with the term 'data visualization'.

Why? The top few concise and concrete reasons, please, perhaps supported with a line or two of code. I want to better understand the shortfalls central to it's lack of appeal. 2 or 3 should suffice.

If Mike's comments are still valid, please say so. Again, an example or two would be helpful.

Should you prefer a little more context for your answers:

  • thanks to tight, local bindings between data and presentation, D3.js has raised the expectation that quality data-driven applications can be made to respond dynamically and immediately to changes in a data set. You may like to think about XSLT ecosystem characteristics that directly impede this kind of behavior.

  • is XSLT-controlled synchronization of transformations across multiple SVG models, as for example in (from MusicXML and other models) music notation -> dynamic score playback -> interactive instruments or theory tools) feasible? If no, in a laser sharp sentence or two, why not?

BTW, I found some useful hints among answers to an earlier (but somewhat wooly) question, but which don't get into specifics.

user2165086
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IMO, because XML as basic format for persistance and exchange is replaced by JSON based styles. With this change also XML related techniques like XSLT lost the focus. I think also the number of real-life XLS-FO solutions is a good example for this development.

OkieOth
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  • And MusicXML? W3C standard, widely used as a basis for score generation using .... XSLT. An XML derivative as gateway to world music visualization: a paradigm change & greenfield application area... – user2165086 Aug 18 '17 at 10:41
  • But this are pointed examples ... the main development focus switched to other formats and with that also the tool and library development lost on pace and the topic gots lower publicity – OkieOth Aug 18 '17 at 11:37
  • Granted (ie I think you're right) but I'm looking for answers focussed on the inner workings of XSLT. – user2165086 Aug 18 '17 at 12:03
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    Just FYI, I came across an [article](https://www.xml.com/articles/2017/02/14/why-you-should-be-using-xslt-30/) claiming that "in XSLT 3.0, an inbound document can be in JSON, rather than XML. The processor can take that document, use the json-to-xml() function to convert it into a specific known XML format, process that through the templates, then convert the resulting output back into JSON (or can convert it into HTML 5 among other formats)". – user2165086 Aug 19 '17 at 12:36