Why XML?
At the foundation of dynamic publishing lie two key principles:
- Breaking up your information into small, reusable components
- Automating the personalization and publishing process
Quark uses XML (Extensible Markup Language) as the underlying data format for your information because its capabilities line up perfectly with dynamic publishing's requirements.
The Basis of Structured Content
In particular, XML lets you break down your information into components of any size that may be useful. For example, an article might include a title, subtitle, and body copy, which itself might consist of a number of components such as paragraphs. Some of those components may be reused across multiple articles or documents, thereby enabling you to create a single source where one change can update many documents.
In addition, XML enforces the absolutely consistent structure that makes automation possible. Without this consistency, the only option would be to continue the labor-intensive effort of hand-crafting pages indefinitely.
Separating Content from Format
Finally, XML allows information to exist independently of its formatting. By applying formatting separately, through an automated process, XML-based information can easily be published in multiple formats and multiple types of media.
Open Standard
Among XML's other virtues is that it is an open standard under control of a global consortium.
Limitations of Traditional Publishing
- Copy/paste leads to redundancy
- Templates suggest structure but do not control it, which leads to inconsistencies that prevent automation
- Formatting hardwired into content, locking that content to a single form of presentation
- Proprietary format under vendor control/li>
Advantages of XML
- Component oriented, which enables reuse by referring back to a single source
- Consistency enforced through data models, which enables automation
- Separates content from formatting, which enables multiple presentations of the same content
- Open standard under consortium control
Please contact us to see a demonstration of dynamic publishing in action.
