Format: Acrobat and PDF tips
These are extracts from the FORMAT NEWSLETTER.
XML: MORE QUESTIONS
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We've been taking a continuing interest in XML, the tagging language that is intended to enable creation of text for publication which can be tagged in a way that will enable its use in any media.
It is, we believe, the way of the future, to enable copy to be prepared and tagged once and then used for print and the web, maybe in multiple ways for each.
Leaving aside the editing question of whether copy prepared for one medium is usable in another without substantial editing, it does remain true that basic editing can be carried out leaving the major decision on relative lengths to be made according to media. Text would be truly edited once, and then made to fit many times.
However, we continue to see questions raised such as one recently on the NewsML email list (You can subscribe at <http://groups.yahoo.com>). The question, from a major potential user, was on what people were using as a parser to convert NewsML to a suitable tagging to use in his production program. Several days later there was no answer on the NewsML list.
While we have seen announcements that various programs will produce XML code as an export option, we have yet to see many options on importing XML.
Is anyone who receives this list using XML-tagged copy as a source for QuarkXpress, InDesign, PageMaker etc?
MORE ON XML
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WoodWing Software of The Netherlands has announced their third plugin for InDesign, Smart XML Export. Its purpose is "to generate well-formed XML to re-purpose the contents of InDesign documents, both text and images, for other media such as the Web and on line archives."
Smart XML Export translates standard InDesign styles to XML tags, automatically. After designing the page, the user selects WoodWing XML from the standard InDesign Export dialog to export XML, without any additional actions.
The generated XML Styles can optionally include an style sheet reference so that the XML can be viewed directly on the web with any standard browser.
In addition to fully automatic style-based XML mapping, the plugin allows users to manually tag individual elements through an Element Tag Panel.
The plugin also allows support for structure. When re-purposing content, it is important to be able to indicate structure within the document to identify multiple items as a single unit. For example, an article might consist of head, byline, body, an image and its caption. When Smart XML Export is used together with WoodWing's Smart Layout plug-in, this structure information is automatically defined and exportable.
Smart XML Export will enter an extensive beta field test at multiple sites in early October and should ship later this year with an expected price of US$149. <http://www.woodwing.com>
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Jukka Saukkonen wrote from Finland about our comments on XML: "You mean there are no XML-native authoring editors available? That's not true, there are Arbortext Epic and SoftQuad XMetal, which are both excellent products. Especially the technical documentation world uses them a lot already."
I didn't put that very well, did I? I realised there were text editors capable of XML creation, but none of them seem to have been marketed to general publishers as a replacement for word processors currently being used. They seem to be primarily high-end solutions. Perhaps this is because XML isn't yet an accepted print origination format, though publishers are being told it will be.
We would be interested in hearing more from anyone using such a program to produce XML (or other tagged format) for both print and web production.
You can find details of the two systems mentioned at <http://www.arbortext.com> and <http://www.softquad.com>
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