Computer-implemented methods and computer-readable storage media are disclosed for facilitating browser-based, what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editing of an extensible markup language (XML) file. A browser executing on a local computing system is used to access a hypertext markup language (HTML) representation of an extensible markup language (XML) file. The HTML representation includes a plurality of elements of the XML file formatted in accordance with an extensible stylesheet language (XSL) transform associated with the XML file. A plurality of editing handlers is inserted within the HTML representation to facilitate modifying the HTML representation and applying the changes to the XML file. A user is permitted to modify the HTML representation for purposes of applying the modifications to the XML file.