Xmlwriter has made my life slightly easier -- but I'm still looking for that perfect xml toolset, both in python and php -- one of the problems is the infinite variations on namespaces, custom tags, and lack of commonly used attributes. I've seen feeds by people who have clearly just bought a book on how to do xml (peachpit press or something) and I just want to find them and grab them and say "just because you can make an xsd it doesn't necessarily mean you should". For web work more often than not the standard commonly used xmlns:dc or yahoo media xmlns:media really does the trick. And in using it, you're making my life easier. Creating tons of subclasses to deal with how cool you think your own idea of what RSS should be, mostly, just a pain in the ass.