The fact that you're allowed some trailing junk after the root element, I decided (but unfortunately too late) is a real design error in XML. If I'm writing a network client, I'm probably going to close the link as soon as a I see the root element end-tag, and not depend on the other end closing it down properly.
Furthermore, if I want to send a succession of XML documents over a network link, if I find a processing instruction after a root element, is it a trailer on the previous document, or part of the prolog of the next?
Copyright © 1998, Tim Bray. All rights reserved.