General remarks

Figure 659. Why XML based publishing?

Figure 660. XML features

Extensibility
- Define your grammar
- XML core extensions (linking,...)
Interoperability
- Cross-platform software support
Open standard, no vendor lock-in
Tons of (processing) frameworks / APIs

Figure 661. Editors, compositors, designers ...

Quote from How and Why Are Companies Using XML?.

It's Not about You! It is about publishers.

they think it's “their” content
they want
- to use it, re-use it, slice it, and dice it
- to own it and control it
- to have access to it and be able to move it

Figure 662. Promises in publishing

XML for publishing ...

saves time and money
is platform independent
avoids vendor lock-in
can be validated for QA
allows for creating different target formats

Figure 663. Publishing reality

Refrain from fancy catalogs
Stick to simple layouts
- Technical documentation
- Law publications

Single source publishing aims at creating different output formats from a given document source:

Figure 664. Single source publishing

Conceptionally each format implements a view to our source in question. Separating a document's structure from its derived (visual) presentation greatly facilitates this task. From an abstract perspective we may conceive a document having:

Figure 665. Separating Structure, content and format

Figure 666. Separating concerns

Content: Words, images, audio / video
Structure: Chapters / sections, tables, lists
Presentation: Physical formatting (boldface, text size/color, ...)

Figure 667. Content

Figure 668. Hierarchical structure

Figure 669. Hierarchical structure, XML source

Figure 670. Presentation

We shed some light on a document's structure and presentation:

Figure 671. Example 1: HTML 5, pure structure

Structure Presentation

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
        <title>Test</title>
    </head>
    <body>
      <section>
        <h1>Intro</h1>
        <p>Some content</p>
      </section>
    </body>
</html>

Figure 672. Example 2: TeX / LaTeX

Structure / content Presentation (PDF)

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\begin{document}
  A nice LaTeX formula:

  \begin{displaymath}
    e^x = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}{x^i \over i!}
  \end{displaymath}

\end{document}

Separating a document's structure from its presentation(s) provides a number of benefits:

Figure 673. Separating structure and presentation(s)

Pros	Cons
Separation of editing / formatting concerns Focus on content rather than formatting Oblivious to format evolution (e.g. Epub) Well suited for SCM, “diff-ing”	No “true” WYSIWYG Fixed formatting rules, no flexibility Less layout control, especially in print

Figure 674. Sample technical document

Figure 675. Observations

Well structured documents
Focus on content rather than style
Clearly defined semantics
Automated generation supporting multiple output channels

Figure 676. Pros and cons of TeX / LaTeX

Pros	Cons
Excellent typography Large community Mature engine Excellent platform support Multiple problem domain support Extensible vocabulary	Focus on print Bad “office” authoring tool support Steep learning curve Inverse editing Cryptic error messages Bloated vocabulary

Figure 677. Tools of the trade

XMLMind Editor

Strictly validating, near WYSIWYG, DocBook / DITA / MathML / XHTML editor.
Plugin architecture
Cross-platform Java™ based.

OxygenXML Editor

Full-fledged XML IDE.
Strictly validating, near WYSIWYG, DocBook / DITA / MathML / XHTML ... editor.
Eclipse based

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General remarks