Much of the example XSLT on the web use an xsl prefix to indicate the XSLT namespace. The widely adopted prefix has much to do with the specification, but it’s not part of the specification.
This specification uses a prefix of xsl: for referring to elements in the XSLT namespace. However, XSLT stylesheets are free to use any prefix, provided that there is a namespace declaration that binds the prefix to the URI of the XSLT namespace.
The xsl prefix used across the web is helpful for web developers learning XSLT, however, it’s not necessary in practice. During a conversation with Allen Chang about Symphony and XSLT I mentioned my dissatisfaction in having to type out the three letter prefix, and he said, “why not change it?”
Changing the namespace declaration from xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" to xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" would allow you to write your code with fewer keystrokes. And I’m all about fewer keystrokes.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<s:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<s:template match="data">
<s:text>Short prefixes rock</s:text>
</s:template>
</s:stylesheet>
After changing the prefix you may need to alter the preferences in your coding program of choice. For example, in Dreamweaver you’ll need to edit the prefix for the XSLT tag library to take advantage of tag hinting and automatic tag closure.