Options for dealing with WXS

Embrace Some rare people do seem to like it.
Suffer Just take it. Learn WXS thoroughly, including its many issues.
Hide behind tools A popular option, using either GUIs or data-binding tools to insulate yourself as far from the WXS as possible, while still technically editing it.
Subset Tim Ewald of Microsoft threw away the type system and limited himself to anonymous types only, producing a subset of WXS that looks, well, a lot like RELAX NG.
Supplement Schematron does make it possible to specify a lot of constraints which are beyond the capability of WXS, though in a separate phase of processing.
Embrace schemas - through RELAX NG (and possibly Schematron) RELAX NG makes it possible to get up close and personal with schemas without requiring users to keep track of dependency trails in their head. Schematron is still useful for reaching places where RELAX NG can't reach.