XML For Cross-Media Publishing
XML enables users to re-purpose content from print documents for use on the web, smart phones, PDAs, etc. As a technology it is unique in that it enables users to set up a cross-media publishing workflow once and then route content to various output media. Applications involved include QuarkXPress, InDesign, but also Microsoft Word, Publisher, Apple Pages, etc.
Products such as Atomik Xport let you export XML from a regular InDesign or QuarkXPress file with a minimum of preparation. InDesign by itself has native XML capabilities so you can also import XML into InDesign and easily create catalogues from databases. Most publishing companies are interested in saving time and money, and one way of doing that is by re-using or re-purposing existing content for multiple output channels or media.
Many publishing and design firms have InDesign CS2 or CS3 in their product portfolio. InDesign supports XML tagging out-of-the-box, but the XML InDesign generates is a large, flat file with little or no visual structure, which makes it hard to manually fine-tune post-export wise. The XML is also not very richly structured. The reason is that InDesign by itself can’t create a Document Type Definition (DTD), and therefore can’t create rules and rule sets that allow a user to tell a parsing program where in the target medium the XML content must be poured.
If you must do this by hand, time becomes an issue, because you must have someone dedicated to carefully crafting the rules and rule sets, and this process is repeated for every single (even small) change you apply to either the InDesign source layout document, or to the target medium, such as a web site. Most people will therefore give up and resort to the copy and paste type of repurposing everybody is familiar with.
For Publishing Companies and Departments With Plans for Re-Purposing Content
The problem with copy and paste is that it is too time consuming and too error-prone. With the set up of a DTD once, dedicated applications can handle re-purposing content via XML automatically.
We covered Atomik Xport, a product that integrates with InDesign CS3 or QuarkXPress 7 and which enables users to create rules and rule sets with a familiar palette-based interface.
Another application in this market is Scriba XML from PCI. Scriba uses a graphical representation to interconnect actions that you can take on existing content. These actions represent rules and rule sets.
For QuarkXPress 7, Atomik XML Publisher was reviewed. Atomik XML Publisher is an entry-level application that XML-enables QuarkXPress far beyond the Quark XTension that has been available to convert QuarkXPress files into XML files.
A completely XML based editorial workflow or publishing system is Atomik Dynamic Publisher. Atomik Dynamic Publisher is very important new type of publishing system. It is based on open source technologies and costs a fraction of most existing publishing systems currently available.
We considered Atomik Dynamic Publisher to be important enough to write an analysis of the product. You can download this free report here.
Getting XML into InDesign seems to be less of an issue.
In QuarkXPress 7, it remains an issue because there’s no easy way to make the program understand XML. We published a review of Atomik RoundTrip XML which will do the job, although it does require thorough knowledge of both XML and the product itself.
Users who want to get by with the XML code from a database or from InDesign can probably best use an XML editor. We reviewed oXygen XML Editor which we found to be a very powerful application, with the understanding that you need to have at least sound knowledge of XML and XML Schema.
