XMLmind XML Editor v 5.1

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