XML Namespaces provide a method to avoid element name conflicts.
Name Conflicts
In XML, element names are defined by the developer. This often results in a conflict when trying to mix XML documents from different XML applications.
This XML carries HTML table information:
<table> <tr> <td>Apples</td> <td>Bananas</td> </tr> </table>
This XML carries information about a table (a piece of furniture):
<table> <name>African Coffee Table</name> <width>80</width> <length>120</length> </table>
If these XML fragments were added together, there would be a name conflict. Both contain a <table> element, but the elements have different content and meaning.
A user or an XML application will not know how to handle these differences. Continue reading XML Namespaces