I have added documentation on the xpath feature. It will probably need modification once we get that working. I don't think the problem is related to namespaces, because the tags in Bookshare documents, which I am using for testing, don't have namespace prefixes. Also expressions using the local-name function still give empty node sets. I'm looking at ways to clean up after the error-handling functions. Unless Christian really wants to continue with it, I'll get it working - unless I hit another snag. The Universal Tactile Document feature is beginning to take shape. We are making good progress! Thanks, John -- John J. boyer; President, Chief Software Developer Abilitiessoft, Inc. http://www.abilitiessoft.com Madison, Wisconsin USA Developing software for people with disabilities For a description of the software and to download it go to http://www.jjb-software.com