XML in Publishing The Printers Perspective

1
XML in PublishingThe Printers Perspective

• A Presentation by
• David Lewis
• of
• Clowes Information

2
Introduction

• Printing is seen as a Cinderella Industry - but
  the book remains a main source of revenue
• Printers are not Luddites they do have reason
  to be cynics

3
The Early Days of Structured Document Creation

• Typesetters have always wanted to code documents
• Early SGML projects originated by typesetters
• Typesetters were obsessed with keystrokes
• contributed to tag minimization
• Always normalise SGML before use
• Sequence used to be Typeset then convert to SGML
• It has now become Create SGML then typeset

4
The Loss of Structure

• Authors originate in MS Word but do not add
  structure
• The move to new media publishing given to IT dept
• Cannot go from legacy data to structured data via
  HTML
• DTP made everyone an expert structure
  disappeared

5
Publishing Databases

• The idea of typesetting from databases is not new
• Supplied as fielded or separated lists.
• Not easy to change this interface
• New databases have emulated old interfaces
• Relational model is not ideal for free text
• often sets of Word files managed by RDBMS
• Is it time to do it properly use an XML
  database?
• Hardest task of all is to get editorial staff to
  use structured editing software

6
DTD Creation

• Can use Docbook it tries to be all things to
  all men
• There is often missing metadata for a book page
• Books require many types of space, so use the
  entities
• Even better - make an element group to keep items
  under positional control
• Groups also facilitate finding the last in a list
  a, b, c, d and e

7
DTD Creation

• Multiple references to a float
• we need one that calls in the picture
• References to graphics
• OK to rotate landscape tables/graphics?
• are there rules for sizing to fit the page
  layout?
• Is specific text needed for headline or footline
• Ambiguity of quoted paras within paras
• A group may resolve the ambiguity

8
Creating XML

• Legacy conversion
• Extra workload on editorial staff
• Fallback is re-keying
• Smart conversion from existing files avoids
  introducing new errors
• Conversion from SGML
• Data files generally not too difficult
• DTD conversion more difficult
• Do not attempt the conversion at a critical time

9
Creating XML

• Authoring XML
• Unfortunately most publishers and authors want to
  use MS Word
• Word look-alike approach
• Database entry look-alike approach
• Multi window views of the same document
• Spaces are important
• Use text editor to know exactly what is in the
  XML

10
Page Makeup

• Makeup for a printed page is more demanding than
  for electronic delivery
• There is a much higher expectation of quality on
  a printed page
• Printed page has width and depth constraints
• Floating objects share space with the text flow
• Need to fill as much white space as possible to
  minimise the number of pages

11
Page Makeup

• From XML it should be as automatic as possible
• XSL does not yet have print page features (if
  ever)
• XSL defines the rules page makeup needs ways to
  solve the problems caused by the rules.
• Designers should consider potential page break
  problems caused by the design
• Publishers/Editors always seem to do corrections
  when they see pages

12
The Printers Contribution

• There is a high turnover of Publishers staff, so
  Printers are often the only continuity
• Trusted by the current production team
• Can best manage the transition from legacy to
  structured data
• Printer has the best knowledge of the
  data,therefore well placed to lead DTD design.
• Printer can be best interface to XML experts

13
The Printers Contribution

• Printers have set up new media operations, but
  often disguise the association by a change of
  name
• Does the promised inclusion of XML within PDF
  bring the wheel full circle?
• Spec for PDF 1.4 includes XML metadataeg PPML
  for personalization

14
And Finally

• Remember . . .
• Cinderella DID go to the ball and
• DID marry the Prince