Root node vs Document node

In the spec there is talk in three places of the "Document node", and in 13 
places of "the root node of an instance (which is the parent of the root 
element)".

The xpath data model 3.1 says

 "There are seven kinds of Nodes in the data model: document, element, 
attribute, text, namespace, processing instruction, and comment.] "

It also defines "root node"

 [Definition: The root node is the topmost node of a tree, the node with no 
parent.]

My belief is that every XForms root node of an instance is a Document node.

So I think this would be better if we unified these usages, and used 
Document node consistently, which would also simplify some texts.

Steven

Received on Friday, 20 February 2026 15:40:07 UTC