<items>
<item>An item.</item>
<item>Another item.</item>
</items>

function readXML()
    {
         // code for IE
         if (window.ActiveXObject)
         {
                alert ('IE')
                           var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.3.0");
                           xmlDoc.async = false;
                           xmlDoc.load("xmlfile.xml");
         }
         // code for Mozilla, etc.
         else if (document.implementation && document.implementation.createDocument)
         {
                alert ('FF')
                                var xmlDoc = document.implementation.createDocument("", "", null);
                                xmlDoc.async = false;
                                xmlDoc.load("xmlfile.xml");
         }
         else
         {
              alert('Your browser cannot handle this script');
         }
              var items = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName('item');
              for (i=0; i < items.length; i++)
                    {
                        itemsarray[i] = items[i].firstChild.nodeValue;
                        alert(itemsarray[i]);
                    }
    }
    
readXML();