D Publishing Network: D-layed for now

I was interested to read on Digireado that Dymocks is sorting out the quality assurance details before they launch D Publishing. Good - very good, because their original media release was very short on technical details. I raised my concerns with Dymocks and they have listened. They still haven't released any more details about how they would involve editors and designers in their so-called "push button" ebook production service. At the very least, Dymocks should be talking with the Institute of Professional Editors to discuss how editors can get involved - afterall, publishing is about building professional networks.

Have a look at Digireado's blog:
http://digireado.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/d-publishing-launch-delayed-until-later-this-year/

Pickings rewarding if would-be writers play it by the e-book

When browsing the plethora of media reports about the latest in ebooks, it’s not often that you come across any mention of editing – but today was a rare exception. The Australian newspaper’s IT supplement ran the above story and amongst the bigger news of Google’s ebook service and other ebook production services was a brief recognition that editing ebooks is a key to publishing success. Just after the snippet about the success of US author Joe Konrath in selling 20,300 ebooks in a month, and before the bit about how much Amazon pays in royalties was this:

“Not every budding author is going to achieve those levels, of course. There’s skill involved, not just in the writing, but also in the design, editing, proofreading and presentation required by e-publishers…”.

If that isn’t enough, further into the article, after talking about self-publishing through Smashwords, it states:

“There are no set-up fees and no cost for updating or revising your book, but you will need to do a professional job of editing, proofreading and formatting, or find someone who will do that for you.”

Someone? Hello! – how about an “editor”? Isn’t it time that media commentators recognised the players in publishing, and start to talk them up? It won’t be long before authors will become frustrated with the hype about self-service publishing and wonder why they are not selling much. The link between ebooks and editors just needs to get stronger now.

The online story is missing the paragraphs I’ve just mentioned, but you can find it at:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/opinion/monetary-rewards-if-would-be-writers-play-it-by-the-e-book/story-e6frgb0o-1226201681876

XMLmind XML Editor v 5.1

XMLmind is happy to announce the version 5.1 of XMLmind XML Editor.
_____________________________________________

XMLmind XML Editor Personal Edition v5.1 can be downloaded from
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/download.shtml

Professional Edition users, please upgrade using this form:
http://www.xmlmind.com/store/download.php

(The above form is usually accessed through
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/upgrade.html.)
_____________________________________________

The new Compare tool will show you the differences existing
between two revisions of the same initial document.
This tool also allows to accept or reject some or all the changes.

The new Tools|Remark menu should be handy to use if you have
to review or comment documents.

The two above facilities have a lesson of their own
(including a 2:10 screencast) in our tutorial.
_____________________________________________

More information:

* http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/changes.html

* Tutorial lesson "Reviewing changes using the Compare tool":

Text: http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_tutorial/review_changes/index.html

Screencast:
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_tutorial/review_changes/video/review_changes.html

XMLmind Editor v5

XMLmind is happy to announce the version 5.0.0 of XMLmind XML Editor.
____________________________________________

XMLmind XML Editor Personal Edition v5.0.0 can be downloaded from
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/download.shtml

Professional Edition users, please upgrade using this form:
http://www.xmlmind.com/store/download.php

(The above form is usually accessed through
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/upgrade.html.)
_____________________________________________

XMLmind XML Editor v5 aims to be a good tool for authoring
highly modular documents: DITA maps, today's DocBook modular
books and tomorrow's DocBook 5.1 assemblies, Web sites comprising
a large number of XHTML pages, etc.

In order to attain this goal, we have added 3 new interactive tools
to XXE:

* the "Browse Files" tool,
* the "Search Files" tool,
* the "Document Set" tool.

These new tools are showcased in "XMLmind XML Editor v5 Primer"
(which includes a 3:30 screencast). Moreover, the "Document Set"
tool has a lesson of its own in our tutorial.

XMLmind XML Editor v5 is deemed to be as reliable and more
featureful than v4.9.x. Moreover, the 3 new interactive tools
are lightweight and absolutely not intrusive.
All in all, we recommend all XXE users to upgrade to v5.
_____________________________________________

More information:

* http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/changes.html

* XMLmind XML Editor v5 Primer:

Text: http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_tutorial/v5_primer/index.html

Screencast:
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_tutorial/v5_primer/video/v5_primer.html

* Tutorial lesson "Working with a document set":

Text: http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_tutorial/document_set/index.html

Screencast:
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_tutorial/document_set/video/document_set.html

D Publishing: D-tails yet to come

When I read about Dymocks’ new venture in online publishing – D Publishing – I was more than interested in how editors would play a part, and how quality assurance would be undertaken. Dymocks does, afterall, mention that authors would have access to editors and designers. Fine, but is that network of professional editors established to support such an ambitious venture? In response to the press release, I sent off an email to the nominated PR people. I was looking for specifics in the technology and supposed network of professionals, which would show whether Dymocks had thought all this through; I received a reply from Michael Allara. Below is my email and the reply.

11 September 2011
Attn: Don Grover, CEO, Dymocks

Don,

I have some questions about the D Publishing Network, and in particular the quality assurance processes involved. I am a qualified professional editor and the principal of Xmplar, an entry-level digital publishing business (http://xmplar.biz). I also run a blog on XML editing in Australia (http://xmleditoz.blogspot.com) and a resources website for editors (http://xmleditoz.net.au).

1. On the web page http://www.dymocks.com.au/publish/default.aspx it is stated that “To create a new book with D Publishing, authors will … Edit and organise their manuscript using our web-based editing tools and range of book templates”

Would you please advise what specific web-based technology and software will be used at the “back end” of D Publishing to allow authors to edit and organise their books. For example, is Google Docs or similar “software as a service” system used?

2. The D Publishing web page states “D Publishing will start giving authors access to a network of designers and editors,…”

Please advise what designers and editors are being employed in this network – what are their specific qualifications, professional memberships and experience.

3. It is stated that Dymocks will use a network of designers – but on the web page http://www.dymocks.com.au/publish/default.aspx it is mentioned that “authors will … add their own cover”. How do you justify the use of designers if it is expected that authors supply their own cover or choose one from a range of template designs? This seems incongruous.

4. It is also stated that Dymocks will use a network of editors – but on the web page http://www.dymocks.com.au/publish/default.aspx it is mentioned that “authors will … Edit and organise their manuscript using our web-based editing tools and range of book templates.” How do you justify the use of professional editors if you expect authors to self-edit using Dymocks’ web-based tools? This seems incongruous.

5. The D Publishing Network clearly emphasises that the author is in control of their book, but you attempt to add credibility to the service by mentioning that professional editors and designers are also involved – yet it’s not made clear how those professionals interact with each author. How do you justify that authors would get a “publishable” (ie readable and marketable) book using web-based tools rather than having personal contact with professionals?

Thankyou for your interest. I look forward to your reply.

Dave Gardiner
Xmplar

Michael Allara replied on 12 September:

Hello Dave,

Thanks for your email regarding D Publishing, and congratulations on the recent launch of Xmplar.

D Publishing has not yet launched to the public, and will do so in October. All further information about the platform and services that will be relevant and important for authors seeking to turn their manuscript into a professionally published book or ebook will be made available at that time.

(ends) _____________

I can’t wait to get that “further information … that will be relevant for authors”. How about what’s relevant for editors, too?

oXygen XML Editor v 13

Version 13 introduces XML Developer as a new product in the products family. This aggregates all the XML development features offering a cost effective tool for people that do not need the visual editing support. The XML Editor is the union of XML Developer and XML Author offering both XML development and XML authoring capabilities.

Version 13 is focused on user interface improvements that concern visual XML editing (Author), XML Diff, SVN support, attributes editing and the presentation of results for validation, transformation, spell checking and search.

The Data Source Explorer view features drag and drop capabilities that allow copy/move operations even between different databases.

The EPUB support was extended with visual rendering of EPUB specific files and enhanced validation. New built-in transformation scenarios allow the conversion of TEI documents to EPUB, ODF and DOCX.

DITA improvements include search references (where used) within a DITA map, map validation under multiple condition sets (ditaval files), use of subject scheme defined values and more.

The new version adds support for JSON document editing, validation and conversion. Browser specific CSS extensions are now supported in the CSS editor.

DocBook XSLT 2.0 stylesheets

Hello world,

After some years of use and some few days of polish, I decided to pull
the trigger:

http://norman.walsh.name/2011/08/25/docbook-xslt-2

It's a 0.0 release, so, you know, YMMV. But please do let me know what
you think.

I'll write another weblog posting about it, but in the meantime, "yes,
you can run the image extensions with Saxon HE". Just add
-init:docbook.Initializer to the Saxon command line (and put the
(included) jar file in your class path, of course).
Norm Walsh

My first e-reader

I’m a Luddite when it comes to the latest technology. iPhone, iPod, iPad – i don’t wanna know. It’s a curious thing for someone who is otherwise au fait with publishing technology. I mean, I’ve been developing ebooks for the past year, but I’ve been using a browser to test the appearance of epub files. That’s worked fine so far. But when you realise you eventually need to take ebooks to market, and that you need to demonstrate how this is to work, you also realise you need to get what’s being used in the publishing market.

And so I researched e-ink e-readers – looked at the reviews, read what others thought of them, and checked out what worked well. Sure, there was a lot of hype about the big names – Kindle, Kobo, Sony – but I kept going back to the BeBook. A couple of years ago, I learned about the BeBook (back then there was only the BeBook One) when a group of us at work listened to a sales rep hark on about the technology.

I recently found that the newer BeBook Club was available through Dymocks, and I was impressed by the number of ebook formats and image types that it could support. More than the Kindle or Kobo, which are pretty much tied in to particular ebook retailers and their formats. I wanted an e-reader to test ebooks, and the Club ticked all the boxes. The BeBook even has an online forum and support centre where you can get the latest news and “firmware” updates.

So after a month of using it, my impression is an overwhelming – meh! It’s average. Maybe it’s because I’m used to the familiarity (and colour screen) of a netbook or laptop. Maybe it’s because I’m dazzled by the current hype of tablets (and their colour screens). And to get an e-ink e-reader in the middle of a tablet revolution seems a little like wanting to use a card catalogue at a library.

Well, I tested the e-reader by loading a simple epub file with a few graphics and got a feel for the buttons. You can do a few nifty things like turn the display 90 degrees either way, or increase the font size, or view the table of contents of a book to jump to a section of the book, or even set up a “slide show” mode – you set the time interval in seconds and the book will automatically move to the next page without needing to press a button. But to access all these functions, you need to hit the MENU button, then use the cursor buttons to scroll to a function, then set what you want, then go back to the book you were reading - it takes a little time to set up things on the fly. It’d be good if you could set up your preferred reading options once and for all, but with some things – like the slideshow – you lose what you set every time you switch off the e-reader. Which means every time you “boot up” (and the BeBook takes 30 seconds to boot up and another 30 seconds to open the previously read book) you need to thumb through the menu settings again.

So I’ll be bringing out the e-reader on a regular basis – probably once a month – just to test new ebooks; I certainly wouldn’t use one for recreational reading. I salute those with the courage and intestinal fortitude to use their Kindle on the train or even while walking to work (!). I’ll wait to see what’s around the corner (probably another Luddite shaking their head).

DeltaXML oXygen editor plugin (with DocBook support)

DeltaXML would like to announce the release of version 1.0.1 of our oXygen editor plugin.

This new product is designed to make our DocBook comparison technology more readily accessible to users of the oXygen editor. Users can compare files on disk and/or editor windows containing DocBook content and set comparison preferences using the oXygen GUI. The result will use revisionflags to describe the changes.

We provide some CSS customization for styling based on the revisionflags within oXygen and other post-processing options are available.

The plugin also supports DITA comparison and also the oXygen 'tracked changes' format, so that oXygen's Author mode can be used to view, accept or reject the changes.

Our DocBook comparison API product is still available for users interested in API level or scripted access.

Please see the release notes:
http://www.deltaxml.com/oxygen-plugin/current/docs/release-notes.html
and product pages on our website:
http://www.deltaxml.com/products/oxygen-plugin/features.html

Release 3 of Altova Software Version 2011

Release 3 Delivers XML Digital Signatures, Portable XML Forms (PXF), and more!

New in XMLSpy® 2011r3

• Digital XML signatures for XML documents
• Support for PXF (Portable XML Form) file format
• Support for .NET 4.0 scripting
• Ability to add additional .NET assemblies for scripting
• New spell checker with improved dictionary support
• Support for Internet Explorer® 9 in Browser View
• Shortcut for selecting entire XML element

New in MapForce® 2011r3

• Define multiple ranges in a single Excel® worksheet
• Native Support for HIPAA 5010
• Auto-generation of 999 messages for X12 version 5010
• Command line extensions
• Support for .NET 4 in built-in execution
• Save individual values or entire sub-trees in intermediate variables
• Support for XML signatures on output

New in StyleVision® 2011r3

• Digital signatures for XML documents
• Support for new PXF (Portable XML Forms) file format
• New spell checker with improved dictionary support
• Support for Internet Explorer® 9
• Support for .TIFF, .JPEG XR, and .SVG image formats
• Scripting editor supports .NET 4.0
• Ability to add additional .NET assemblies for scripting

New in Authentic® 2011r3

• Digital signatures for XML documents
• Support for new PXF (Portable XML Forms) file format
• New spell checker with improved dictionary support
• Support for Internet Explorer® 9 and Firefox® 4
• Support for .TIFF, .JPEG XR, and .SVG image formats
• Scripting editor supports .NET 4.0
• Ability to add additional .NET assemblies for scripting

Visit the Altova Download page to update now, or visit the Altova SMP page to learn more about our Support and Maintenance Package (SMP).

oXygen XML Editor version 12.2

Version 12.2 of XML introduces a number of unique development features. It provides support for editing XSLT and XML Schema modules in the context of a main XSLT, respectively main XML Schema file. For XML Schema visual editing it introduces a Palette view that allows to easily create new schema components by dragging them from this Palette view into the diagram. The support for the xml-model processing instruction for schema association that was previewed at XML Prague Conference is available in 12.2 replacing the specific processing instruction. The new version includes also one of the most requested features: Ant integration - the support for Ant transformation scenarios allows executing a target from an Ant script. For XSLT 2.0 and XQuery transformations it is possible to specify parameter values as XPath expressions when the engine allows that.

The EPUB support received special attention, oXygen offers now EPUB validation by integrating EpubCheck, editing and validation for specific EPUB file types as well as a number of general enhancements for working with archive-based formats. The visual authoring feature improvements in change tracking, table editing, transformations to new target formats and new API additions. The integrated Subversion client includes an improved Repositories view, offering a new design, better actions workflow and an optimized repository access. Many of the components were updated to their latest version.

The new installation kits can be downloaded from:
http://www.oxygenxml.com/download_oxygenxml_editor.html

Altova Version 2011 Release 2

On February 16, 2011, Altova introduced Release 2 of its Version 2011 product line. Altova Software Version 2011 Release 2 (v2011r2) provides important updates for chart and report creation, numerous data mapping enhancements, new features XML Schema editing, support for the latest version of BPMN, diff/merge of Microsoft® Word documents, much more!

New in XMLSpy® 2011r2

• Embedding external files in XML
• Customizable documentation generation
• Enhancements to chart creation functionality
• Sorting of elements and types in schema view
• Refactoring support for XML Schemas
• Intelligent support for changing element types and base types

XMLmind XSL updates

XMLmind XSL Utility and XMLmind XSL Server now allow to convert the most complex DITA 1.2 documents to a variety of formats.

Other enhancements:

• Upgraded the following components in both XMLmind XSL Utility and XMLmind XSL Server:
  • Upgraded Apache FOP to version 1.0.
  • Upgraded the DocBook XSL stylesheets to version 1.76.1.
  • Upgraded XMLmind DITA Converter (ditac for short) to version 2.0, which adds support for DITA 1.2 documents.
  • Upgraded Saxon to version 9.2.1.5.
• Added support for the CSS 2.1 named color orange (#FFA500).

More...

Australia mandates Microsoft's Open Office XML

Australia's Department of Finance has released a desktop policy that required all agencies to adopt Office Open XML as the standard document format - a move that in the short term ensures Microsoft's Office suite remains embedded in government.

The Whole-of-Government Common Operating Environment (WofG COE) Policy [pdf] mandates that an agency's productivity suite "must have the ability to read and write the endorsed file format" that complies with the ECMA-376 version Office Open XML (OOXML) standard.

More...

oXygen 12.1

Version 12.1 of oXygen XML adds new features like a smart paste action that automatically converts content from office applications or from a web browser to DITA, DocBook or TEI, improves the XML authoring in areas like reference management, change tracking or the CSS rendering support and extends the API to incorporate feedback from partners which integrate oXygen with CMSs or other applications. On the XML development side the new version introduces the Quick Assist helper to facilitate access to search and refactoring actions plus a number of improvements to the XSLT and XQuery debuggers and to the Relax NG schema editor. As always there were continuous user interface and performance improvements and many of the oXygen components were updated to their latest versions.

Author:
* Smart Paste - Automatic Conversion to DITA, DocBook, TEI, etc.
* Automatic Refresh of Included Content
* Manage Tracked Changes at Word Level
* Different Visualization Modes of Documents Containing Tracked Changes
* Content Completion Supports Custom Actions
* Support for Auto Margins
* New CSS Extension Functions

DITA:
* Paste from HTML or Office Documents as DITA
* Improved Support for MathML in DITA

DocBook:
* Paste from HTML or Office Documents as DocBook

TEI:
* Paste from HTML or Office Documents as TEI

XSLT and XQuery Debuggers:
* XSLT 2.0 and XQuery Types in Variables and XWatch Views
* Enhanced XSLT Context Information

XML Development:
* Quick Assist
* Working Sets for Defining the Scope for Search and Refactoring Actions
* Easy Identification of Relax NG Pattern References
* Regexp-aware Content Completion Assistant in the Find/Replace Dialog

Extended API
* Set Title of Editor Tab
* Rename Element
* Get Current Context Data
* Filter Breadcrumb Nodes
* Persistent Options
* CustomProtocolPlugin has Access to Workspace
* Delete Nodes Actions Now Have a New Callback Method
* Access to New Resolver Methods
* Access to AuthorSchemaAwareEditingHandler
* Improved Editor State Change Listener

Component Updates:
* Updated Saxon 9 Processor
* Updated Calabash XProc Connector
* Updated DITA Open Toolkit
* Updated DocBook XSL Stylesheets
* Updated TEI Framework
* Updated XForms Schema

XMLmind DITA Converter v2.0

XMLmind DITA Converter (ditac) has now extensive support for the DITA 1.2 standard.

Ditac 2.0 has less limitations and less specificities than ditac 1.x. It is also more conforming to the DITA 1.2 standard than ditac 1.x was to the DITA 1.1 standard.

All in all, even if you do not intend to use any of the DITA 1.2 features in your documents, upgrading to ditac 2.0 is strongly recommended. And if you gave up the idea of using ditac 1.x because of its limitations and specificities, then may be you should give ditac 2.0 a try.

We plan to integrate XMLmind DITA Converter v2.0 in the following products: XMLmind XSL Utility, XMLmind XSL Server, and XMLmind XML Editor Professional Edition within a couple of weeks.
-----------------------------------------------

More info in http://www.xmlmind.com/ditac/changes.html

Please download XMLmind DITA Converter v2.0 from
http://www.xmlmind.com/ditac/download.shtml

-------------------------------
What is XMLmind DITA Converter?
-------------------------------

XMLmind DITA Converter (ditac for short) is an open source, industrial-strength, DITA processor. It is meant to be an alternative to the DITA Open Toolkit.

Ditac allows to convert the most complex DITA 1.0, 1.1 or 1.2 documents to production-quality XHTML 1.0, XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.1, Java[tm] Help, HTML Help, Eclipse Help, EPUB, PDF, PostScript®, RTF (can be opened in Word 2000+), WordprocessingML (can be opened in Word 2003+), Office Open XML (.docx, can be opened in Word 2007+), OpenOffice (.odt, can be opened in OpenOffice.org 2+).