XML editing in Australia

XMLmind Editor v 5.1.1

2012-01-13T20:45:00.001+11:00

XMLmind is happy to announce the version 5.1.1 of XMLmind XML Editor.
_____________________________________________

XMLmind XML Editor Personal Edition v5.1.1 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.)
_____________________________________________

XMLmind XML Editor v5.1.1 (January 10, 2012):

* Allows to convert DocBook and DITA documents to Web Help.

* Several minor, yet useful, enhancements.
_____________________________________________

More information:
http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/changes.html

D Publishing Network: D-layed for now

2011-11-22T21:43:00.002+11:00

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

2011-11-22T21:32:00.001+11:00

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

2011-11-15T22:22:00.000+11:00

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

2011-09-30T21:19:00.000+10:00

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

2011-09-26T17:23:00.001+10:00

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

2011-08-29T23:30:00.000+10:00

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

2011-08-26T18:44:00.002+10:00

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

2011-08-18T23:06:00.000+10:00

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)

2011-08-13T17:36:00.007+10:00

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

2011-06-11T19:21:00.005+10:00

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

2011-05-20T11:32:00.000+10:00

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

2011-02-20T21:08:00.002+11:00

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

2011-01-20T13:55:00.002+11:00

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

2011-01-19T21:41:00.000+11:00

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

2011-01-13T18:15:00.001+11:00

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

2011-01-03T22:49:00.001+11:00

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+).

Essential Tools of an XML Workflow

2010-10-24T18:10:00.002+11:00

Here is an informative webcast from O'Reilly about the requirements for implementing an XML publishing workflow. Many of the issues that Laura Dawson addresses are similar to my own views and experiences of XML editing.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/webcast-video-essential-tools.html

Case Study - eVisioner Uses the MissionKit for Web-based Governance Solution

2010-10-21T22:35:00.001+11:00

News release from Altova:

Altova customer eVisioner used components from the Altova MissionKit, including XMLSpy, StyleVision, UModel, and DiffDog, to build a Web-based governance solution from the ground up.

After creating a prototype of the MetaTeam product, a unique XML-based collaboration environment aimed to raise project team performance and lower costs, eVisioner realized that creating a consistent user interface for such a large program under active development would require either constant attention or an inflexible development process, and possibly both. In addition, the developers needed a way to integrate documentation, import and export data, and allow customers to generate customized reports. Together, all of these concerns suggested the implementation of an XML architecture.
In keeping with the principles defined by the naked objects pattern, eVisioner planned to automatically generate the MetaTeam user interface from its domain model and an abstract application description in XML. The eVisioner team found that the XML development tools and other components included in the Altova MissionKit were a perfect fit to model, build, and test the MetaTeam team governance application.
To read this case study in its entirety, complete with screenshots, please visit: http://www.altova.com/nl/1010/cust_evisioner.html
To access the tools used in this case study, along with all the components available in the Altova MissionKit, download a 30-day trial here: http://www.altova.com/nl/1010/download.html

Comparing XML Schemas with DiffDog

2010-10-21T22:31:00.001+11:00

News release from Altova:

XML developers frequently need to modify and enhance XML Schemas as XML-based applications are created. Similarly, users of industry-standard XML-based data exchange systems need to update XML file formats to maintain compatibility with evolving standards. To assist with these common requirements, the Altova DiffDog diff/merge tool includes powerful functionality for comparing XML Schemas.

The XML Schema Differencing feature graphically displays two XML Schemas side by side, identifies identical elements automatically, and lets users map differences and generate XSL transformations to update XML data files.

To read this Tech Note in its entirety, including an example scenario for this new feature, visit: http://www.altova.com/nl/1010/technote20.html.

For more Tech Notes and Technical Briefs featuring tools from the Altova MissionKit visit the Altova Library page: http://www.altova.com/nl/1010/library.html

To learn more about DiffDog and its powerful functionality for comparing XML schemas, merging text or source code files, synchronizing directories, and its advanced XML-aware differencing and editing capabilities, download a 30-day trial here: http://www.altova.com/nl/1010/download.html

XEPWin 3.0 released

2010-10-15T13:41:00.001+11:00

RenderX has released XEPWin 3.0. This major release enablesbetter utilization of computational resources in multi-core environments by means of launching multiple rendering threads and distributing formatting requests among them. XEPWin 3.0 also contains improvements in configuration, error reporting and XEPWin API.
http://www.renderx.com/news/index.html#September_27,_2010

Altova XML v 2011

2010-10-14T22:15:00.001+11:00

On September 8, 2010, Altova introduced Version 2011 of its entire product line. Altova Software Version 2011 delivers a bounty of new and exciting features, most notably support for charts and reporting across multiple Altova MissionKit tools. This new reporting functionality is truly unique to the Altova MissionKit, which is now the only XML toolset that supports the creation of charts using XSLT or XQuery for visualizing and analyzing XML data.
http://www.altova.com/whatsnew.html

oXygen XML editor v 12

2010-09-30T19:38:00.003+10:00

I have been using oXygen XML for the past 12 months and recommend it as an XML editing package. Version 12 has just been released; here is an overview:

"oXygen is the best XML editor available, with a large number of users ranging from beginners to XML experts. It is the only XML tool that supports all the XML schema languages. The XSLT and XQuery support is enhanced with powerful debuggers and performance profilers. You can use oXygen XML Editor to work with all XML-based technologies including XML databases, XProc pipelines, and web services.
Specially tuned for content authors, oXygen XML Author comes with a configurable and extensible visual editing mode based on W3C CSS stylesheets with ready-to-use DITA, DocBook, TEI and XHTML support, making oXygen the ideal XML authoring solution.
oXygen XML Editor is a cross-platform application available on all the major operating systems (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris) and can be used either standalone or as an Eclipse plugin."

Pretty purple hearts?

2010-08-08T19:08:00.002+10:00

It is astounding how creative you can be with XML, if you spend time looking for the right stylesheet code and trying different ways of presenting content on pages. I’ve spent a good part of the last six months experimenting with XSL styles for complex scientific documents and coming up with good page design. I can send out a couple of pages to anyone who's interested.

You can have reasonably good multi-column layout. You can have text flowing around figures. You can place figures in one column or span them across both. You can add background shading to boxes (yes, even in colour if your client needs it). You can format headers and footers. You can have tables formatted with shading and borders anywhere you like (even individual rows and cells). You can style text with different fonts, colours, sizes and styles. And you can use different symbols of any colour for bulleted lists. But don’t use pretty purple hearts.

Pretty purple hearts? What’s that got to do with good page design? Just as I spent time learning XSL for good page design, I spent time skimming through the blog of a US-based XML consultancy after reading a somewhat bemusing article which stated quite emphatically that you can’t be creative with XML. The post, XML: The death of creativity in technical writing? has done its utmost to discredit the benefits of XML and, really, has done a sterling job to present misinformation about not being able to achieve creative layout with XSL. Among other ‘myths and legends’, the author says that writers can’t use pretty purple hearts for bullet points with XML. Ahh … has anybody ever seen pretty purple hearts in a technical document? Someone? Anyone? I thought not.

As for having fine control over the appearance of text, you can bold words inside a title (but aren’t titles meant to be bold anyway?), you can be reasonably creative with page production (it is XSL that adds styles to content, not XML as the author states), and if you don’t spend time producing customised stylesheets to make XML content appear the way you want then you will get ugly pages using standard stylesheets that come with XML schemas. You must explore the technology to get the most out of it.

Quite aside from the fact that the author is constantly confused by the capabilities of XML and XSL (no you can’t be creative, yes you do have flexibility, actually no you don’t at the paragraph level, wait a minute yes you do and it can look good), the article finishes with an incredulous “Why, then, is there so much resistance to XML?” Is it any wonder when this sort of guff is published? Sorry to break your pretty purple heart, but XML can be creative and my efforts are proof. Leave it all to editors, not writers.

AODC 2010 report

2010-06-09T14:53:00.006+10:00

I’ve written up a report on the 13th Australasian Online Documentation and Content Conference, and posted it under ‘Resources’ in xmleditoz.net.au. Besides a PDF, I’ve included the DocBook 5 XML so you can see the original coding used to create the PDF (I wrote it in XML rather than Word).

This was a great conference – very small with around 30 attendees – but the variety and quality of material presented was astounding (and the occasional funny videos were great – have you ever seen Hitler discussing the iPad with his henchmen?). This really was authoring and publishing at the cutting edge, and I approached a few speakers about their experiences – particularly with developing XML training courses, scalable vector graphics (SVG), Author-it and Adobe FrameMaker. A discussion about collaborative authoring with Google Docs grabbed my interest, as I have (mis)handled a few big editing jobs (yes, I admit I could’ve done better) trying to keep track of different versions of documents – I am convinced there is a better way to edit multi-authored works, and that is with online authoring and editing apps.

As a generalist editor with no experience in technical communication, I tended to pay less attention to the various ‘Help’ authoring tools, but took in the concepts and practices. I have used only DocBook for XML editing, and I got the impression that the DITA schema is strongly advocated for technical authoring – so I will definitely look into DITA to see how it compares with DocBook for ease of use and functionality.

Three things I will do as a result of this conference:

look at a range of online collaborative authoring tools and services, and invest in an easy-to-use package
obtain two documents on DITA (DITA 101, DITA for Solo Writers) and start learning what types of publications it can be useful for
research SVG as a format to replace current graphics formats (PNG, TIFF, GIF) for XML documents.

So, what is it with the pic of the croc above? I won it in a raffle for ‘newcomers’ to the conference (I'm certainly not implying that the conference was a croc).

New XML website

2010-05-07T23:05:00.002+10:00

I have just put the finishing touches to my new website www.xmleditoz.net.au, which is a companion website to this blog. As I’ve been working on compiling customised stylesheets, I come across lots of useful resources that are worth sharing. The site has resources for learning XML, editing and authoring software, schemas, typesetting using XSL, and media releases. I’ve put brief comments next to some links to let everyone know what you need to watch out for – make of that what you will.

Anyone can submit links and comments, which I’ll look at before posting to the website. Happy exploring!

What is a web-based document?

2010-04-25T22:30:00.001+10:00

Apple’s iPad has certainly stirred up discussions about ebooks again. It seems every time a new ebook reader is introduced (like the Kindle), the talk about ebooks hots up – either ‘the book is dead’ or ‘you can’t curl up in bed with a laptop’ depending on which side of the digital divide you’re arguing for. And with that talk people question the format of ebooks. The latest is that epub will be ‘the’ format for ebooks. Have a look at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2815124.htm for instance.

Being a novice to the whole ebooks idea – I don’t have a reader or even an iPhone – I wonder where the epub format will leave PDF. I think PDF is great. I have downloaded a few PDF ebooks because I read them on my laptop at home (where I have the time to read) – the wide colour screen is convenient for the page size and readability. Others think PDF is great. I have prepared a few reports as PDF for clients, and they then put those publications on their website as downloadable documents. PDF is one of the main formats of what a web document is right now. Readers can download it and read it onscreen or print out relevant pages – it’s such a convenient format. I haven’t come across anyone who has asked for a HTML version of their document. Probably because it means creating an entirely new document and generating graphics, text and stylesheets to display the same content as a PDF (and who wants to pay twice for two different formats of the same document?).

On to the other format – I have tried to read HTML documents and given up in frustration. Well, okay, I once took a graduate course where all the course notes were provided as hyperlinked pages, and I ended up copying and pasting each page into Word. Not my only experience at trying to download web pages, mind you. HTML documents are designed to be read while you are online, and you might not be able to easily save an entire publication unless the creator has been kind enough to provide a downloadable zip file of all pages. If this is the best that HTML has to offer in the world of reading – despite the attractiveness of being able to handle rich media content – then I can see it dying a natural death as an ebook format. The very structure of HTML pages is a turn-off because I can’t download a HTML document and read it at my leisure. Offline. When I’m not paying big dollars for my broadband access.

I really look forward to seeing epub in action, especially if I can download content then view it offline. I may even think about getting an iPhone…

AODC Conference

2010-04-16T13:24:00.003+10:00

I’ll be heading to the Australasian Online Documentation and Content Conference in Darwin, 12-14 May. This looks like it’ll be a great opportunity to catch up on the latest in online content development (and soak up the tropical clime). I am looking forward in particular to the sessions on DITA schema – this is constantly developing as an XML schema and is looking like a strong contender in XML authoring, to sit alongside the DocBook schema. I also want to find out about scalable vector graphics (SVG) – I’m hoping this will replace the many image formats we currently have to contend with in XML (e.g. JPEG, EPS, TIFF). So keep an eye on my blog - I’ll post a conference report soon.

Discovering XML for editing

2010-04-15T21:49:00.000+10:00

There seems to be a stirring about the ‘next big thing’ for publishing. XML – extensible markup language – is starting to creep into editors’ vocabulary. Editors may have come across XML through Word 2007, which can save word processing documents in Microsoft’s version of this language. Perhaps they may have used native XML in a publishing organisation or had exposure to it with desktop publishing software. XML is being touted by various players in publishing as the next format in which to produce publications. ‘Single-source publishing’ is a term to describe the workflow that is based on XML technologies, where content stored in one source is used to produce publications in several formats and for various media – print, web, PDAs and so on.

Despite years of marketing spin that has promised XML will result in greater efficiency and reduced costs for producing publications by ‘reusing content’, implementation of such single-source workflow has been limited to large publishers – and even then it is used primarily for typesetting, practically at the end of the workflow. But is XML useful across the whole workflow? I am setting out to see how the format can be used more effectively, by implementing it right at the start – with editing.

My first taste of XML came two years ago, when I produced RSS news feeds for a web portal. It didn’t make any sense to me – I just downloaded another news feed, worked out where to put the text and ‘tags’ that defined the title, date and news, and uploaded the XML file to ‘go live’. I had some HTML experience, so understanding the structure of XML code wasn’t totally foreign. But then I landed a job as an editor with a publishing house, and I had to learn XML to edit publications. With specific in-house training, I took to it like the proverbial duck. I learned a new language and new terms – chunks, elements, attributes, nesting, validation. Despite using XML every day, it took six months to become comfortable with it – and there were still many aspects of markup I needed to discover.

Now 18 months down the track, I have an appreciation of how XML can be used to its potential – and on the other hand, where it is just plain awkward. Editing with XML gives you wider exposure to the publishing workflow because you need to consider the structure of documents and, at a basic level, you become involved in formatting text for output – traditionally the domain of the desktop publisher. Yet, with the experience of an enterprise-wide XML publishing system that aims to reduce the turnaround time for producing documents, it is obvious the workflow continues to parallel the conventional stages of production. There is still a necessity to work with Word documents in the early stages of editing, as authors may need to review edits in ‘track changes’. Typical of editing, a Word document may go back and forth between author and editor until a final draft. Once past this stage, editors then mark up the text in XML ‘chunks’ (files). This is effectively typesetting the text – the editor takes on the role of desktop publisher by copying and pasting from Word documents, and also specifying appropriate elements and attributes that aid in defining the final appearance of content. A draft PDF document is then generated, printed, proofread, more corrections made to the XML to modify incomplete markup, and a press-ready PDF is the end result. It is a laborious process, one that is likely similar amongst large publishers.

There are inefficiencies in such a workflow right from the start. Granted, an XML workflow is only as good as the software implemented to manage the content. But the necessity of needing to edit initially with Word, because authors provide and need to review proofread material in this format, is merely transplanting conventional editing practice into a single-source workflow – there is no time-saving solution at this stage. Subsequent typesetting of content by the editor, and generating PDF documents that are sent to authors for review, bring about further delays. Although the XML files may contain all the text and graphics, producing a draft PDF or RTF would be necessary for authors to review. This is ‘roundtripping’ – moving from one format to another then back – just to take in edits.

While such a workflow might be sustainable on a large scale, as for publishing houses, it is not likely to translate well when scaled down to single users or very small teams. The current state of XML software makes it almost feasible for editors to start moving into single-source publishing to supplement word processing-based editing. Almost, because although there is a considerable offering of well-developed and affordable editing and authoring packages that approach the basic functionality of word processors, there is no effective workflow that would reduce the time to produce documents.

If editors are to implement XML, they would need to include typesetting in their services – not only because XML standards and supporting publishing businesses are yet to be developed, but also because production time is most likely to be reduced when editors control the whole production process. The process of structured editing involves marking up content, which encroaches into the typesetting stage. There is a much larger aspect of formatting XML content for presentation – that of developing stylesheets – but for this discussion I will focus on a broad framework for editing workflow.

The figure shows a typically familiar workflow that commences with the author sending a document to the editor. The departure then from conventional editing is that the document is marked up as XML. The document must remain as XML to avoid roundtripping, so reducing the time to take in edits. This, of course, assumes the author has access to XML authoring software for reviewing the content. The editor would control the whole production process for expediency – because in a conventional workflow, a desktop publisher would typeset the document and set up styles with advice from the author, and this requires accurate scheduling to meet the press deadline. There are inevitable delays as the desktop publisher manages several publications and liaises with the editor.

The rationale for devolving the typesetting stage to the editor is that during editing markup, XML documents are partly formatted by selecting appropriate elements and attributes – ensuring valid document structure, for example, is one aspect of formatting for presentation. Because the editor’s markup partially achieves formatting, XML can encourage the editor to complete the formatting, by applying stylesheets to generate press-ready PDF documents. An additional consideration is the need for expertise in document design, preparation of graphics and development of stylesheets, which means collaboration with a desktop publisher would be required. Another imperative for the editor to assume greater control over production is that the infrastructure and expertise within the publishing industry is undeveloped to support XML production – so with very few XML publishers and virtually no XML designers, editors (who are increasingly diversifying into desktop publishing and graphic design) are probably best placed to start building the framework for XML publishing.

This broad framework is but a starting point to test and accommodate the totality of XML publishing – developing effective and efficient markup, stylesheets for various media, and typesetting options; trialling software for authoring; time trials to compare against conventional production workflow; and identifying specialists for aspects of editing, design and usability testing.

Welcome

2010-04-15T21:41:00.000+10:00

G’day and welcome to my blog about XML editing. I’m a freelance editor who’s keen to see XML editing adopted by freelancers. I’m undertaking research and development to learn more about the publishing technology, and am aiming to make it a realistic proposition for editors and authors at the ‘grass roots’.

I’ll share my experiences here, and trust that you’ll find it useful to swap your knowledge or ask questions – we’ll learn together. And I’m looking for XML editors who’d like to collaborate in this work – so feel free to post comments.