Spring Workshop: It's All About the XML

by Sarah O'Keefe, Workshop Leader

The Southwestern Ontario chapter is featuring a customized XML workshop in April, and everyone is welcome!

Although our XML and Structured Authoring course does provide the obligatory in angle brackets explanations, we will also spend a lot of time discussing why you might consider an XML-based workflow. (Incidentally, “It will look good on my resume” is not what your current employer will consider a good business case.) So, does XML make sense for your publishing requirements? Can you justify the time and effort required to implement XML? What other options are available? Do you have a suspicion that XML is in your future?

There are several common reasons why you might need XML...here's a sneak peek at two:

• Extraordinary Metalanguage. XML allows you to capture information about how the components of your document relate to each other. Word processors and desktop publishing tools don't do that; they see documents as a flat collection of sequential paragraphs. In a structured document file, the heading at the top of this article is grouped with the body paragraphs in the article. In a word processor, the visual formatting of the document communicates the structural relationships. In an XML document, the document hierarchy is an integral part of the document.
• Excellent Management of Localization. Do you translate/localize the content you produce? Using XML and automating document formatting/production results in significant cost savings. When documents are produced in several languages, cost savings are multiplied. Desktop publishing costs typically account for around 50 percent of the cost of your localization effort. In an XML-based workflow, you invest upfront to automate formatting and document production and then eliminate the repeated layout costs. Reduced localization costs alone are often enough to justify an XML implementation.

Join me for the Spring Workshop on April 24 and 25 (for FrameMaker users, there's also an advanced session on April 26) when we will discuss these and other reasons you might need XML. Bring your questions, feel free to be skeptical, and be ready to engage in a lively discussion.

About Sarah O'Keefe

Sarah O'Keefe is founder and president of Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc. The company develops and deploys structured authoring environments, and also provides classroom and web-based training for FrameMaker, XML, XSL, and other publishing topics. Sarah's publishing credits include FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference, The WebWorks Publisher Cookbook, Technical Writing 101, FrameMaker for Dummies, and numerous white papers.