XML Training: Concepts

XML and Print

(half-day or 1-day lecture)

Is XML relevant to publishers producing print publications? What advantages, if any, are there to using XML in print publishing? Is XML in the future of QuarkXPress and PageMaker users? The XML hype is about e-commerce, electronic publications, and business. XML for traditional publishing may be less trendy, but is equally powerful. It helps publishers manage multi-author publications, including revisions and approvals; and makes reuse, reformatting, and repurposing of content fast and inexpensive. XML allows publishers to create high-quality print publications using a data format that can later support electronic publication and electronic archives, as well as enhance search and retrieval.

Although designed for publishers currently using print, but interested in future electronic publications (or the use of document content for multiple spin-offs, formats, or multi-media publishing), this course is equally relevant to typesetters and compositors whose customers are moving toward XML. We will discuss:

• The vendor-specific file trap
• Using XML for print: design, implications, and costs
• What XML can’t do in print
• XML for spin-offs, repurposing, and reformatting
• Print today, CD-ROM tomorrow, Web publication next: how to prepare
• Inserting XML into the publishing cycle: options, costs, and value

Prerequisites: None.