A data presentation system dynamically generates and renders a user interface (UI) in the form of a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document. Extensible Markup Language (XML) data files contain data that defines the UI. The XML data is maintained independently of any application and/or computing system's settings and controls that define the presentation of the UI. The XML data files also have reference links to secondary data files that contain data further defining the UI. The UI is dynamically generated when an application invokes the XML data files. The HTML document incorporates the data from both the XML data files and from the secondary data files when rendering the UI.