Sort XML Without XSL

is there a way to sort xml data without using xsl

I have a html table element attached to a function that creates a
xml string

I would like to sort this xml string based by a column.

I have done about 2 hours of surfing the web and found nothing related to sorting xml data with out xsl

any information on this would help

or if anyone knows how to sort a html table in javascript that you be of use as well

Thankx