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{\info{\title YXML? - Why the Extensible Markup Language?}{\doccomm (for a le
vel 1 heading) and for italics. Also HTML's structure is fixed and web browser developers have had to add their own non-standard extensions to provide missing features.
\par
\par The {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Extensible Markup Language (XML)}}} from the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul World Wide Web Consortium,}}} attempts to overcome HTML's limitations, but be simpler than SGML. This it almost accomplishes. In fact you can't write a document directly in XML. You must have a Document Type Defin
ition (DTD) which defines the syntax which can be used to write a particular class of documents and software which can interpret that syntax to carry out some function, such as display a web page.
\par
\par {\*\bkmkstart DDE_LINK1}{\*\bkmkend DDE_LINK1}One example of one use of XML is for {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul XHTML}}}, which provides a more carefully formatted implementation of HTML\'a0using the XML syntax. XHTML is designed to allow a bridge between the existing web and new features. XHTML's stricter definition will require some
minor adjustments for web authors, such as TAGS being in lower case ( for italics, not ). In return for these minor inconveniences, XHTML allows extensions to be easily added for special applications.
\par
\par Some examples of using XML syntax are:
\par
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \li283\ri0\fi-283\f2\fs18 \bullet }\ilvl0 \s5\sa283\li283\ri0\fi-283\ls0{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/RDF/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul\b0 Resource Description Framework}}}{\b0 (RDF) for web-based metadata to allow }{\*\cs21\b\b0 content ratings}{\b0 , }{\*\cs21\b\b0 search engine data collection}{\b0 , {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://about.business.gov.au/bep/agencies/provinfo/metadata/meta11.htm" \\l "3818_82488" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul business metadata}}}, }{\*\cs21\b\b0 digital library collections}{\b0 , and }{\*\cs21\b\b0 distributed authoring}{\b0 ,}
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \li283\ri0\fi-283\f2\fs18 \bullet }\ilvl0 \s5\sa283\li283\ri0\fi-283\ls0{\b0{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Cascading Style Sheets}}} (CSS) for adding styles, such as font size, font type and colour to Web documents.}
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \li283\ri0\fi-283\f2\fs18 \bullet }\ilvl0 \s5\sa283\li283\ri0\fi-283\ls0{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.tieke.fi/ovt/xml/interim.htm" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul{\b0 Electronic forms for e-commerc}e}}}, such as the standard remittance advice format {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "ftp://ecp.html/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul required to implement}}} the Commonwealth Government's electronic procurement strategy
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \li283\ri0\fi-283\f2\fs18 \bullet }\ilvl0 \s5\sa283\li283\ri0\fi-283\ls0{\b0{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language}}} (SMIL) for integrating streaming audio, video, still images and text into a web presentation.}
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \li283\ri0\fi-283\f2\fs18 \bullet }\ilvl0 \s5\sa283\li283\ri0\fi-283\ls0 {\b0{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.openebook.org/OEB1.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Open eBook Publication Structure}}} for publishing of paper and electronic books.}
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283 Proposals for standard syntax for metadata, styles, multimedia and e-books are not new. What is new is that with XML these standards can be expressed using the same basic notation and applications for them can be built with the same functional building blo
cks. Previously a video editing program would be built from different software to a book typesetting system. With XML, the same editor can handle a book or a movie. An XML enabled web browser will already have built in the ability to interpret an XML docum
ent, with applets needed to render the document's components, to be presented by the browser as a book or a movie.
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b }\s11\ls4\ilvl1\outlinelevel1\sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b {\*\bkmkstart pdf}{\*\bkmkend pdf}What are the specific limitations of the PDF format?
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283 {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/acrosdk/DOCS/pdfspec.pdf" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Portable Document Format (PDF)}}} commonly used for publishing electronic documents where proprietary word processing and HTML formats are inadequate. However, PDF's origins are as a page description language and it inherent limitations from the printed page
metaphor. PDF comes from a publishing model where the document creator decides what the final document will look like. Readers passively accept the content and format of the document as given, they are locked out of changing the document or how it is disp
layed. The web has encouraged a more interactive mode, where readers can adjust the layout of the document to suit them, select parts of a document to use and where anyone can be a publisher.
\par While extensions for the web have been added to PDF, it is still primarily for producing static documents consisting of fixed size pages, with the font, text size and location of images fixed by the originator. PDF documents are designed to be self contain
ed, so they can be sent in one file. PDF is designed as the format for the final published work, rather than the format the document would be edited in.
\par However, an electronic document read on screen needs to have the font size, style and screen layout dynamically adjusted to suit the display device and the person reading it. Screens have a lower resolution than a printed page, so larger font sizes and sim
pler font designs are needed for easy reading. The whole of a page designed for printing will not fit on today's computer screens. The reader has to clumsily scroll back and forth across a line to read the screen. The disabled have an added problem with in
creasing the font size further, or using Braille devices.
\par In contrast web browsers designed for HTML don't have a page size built in. Text wraps to fit the screen size. The font style and size can be selected by the reader. Options allow the disabled requirements to be met.
\par Web pages use hypertext links to break up a large document into components. PDF documents can use the book metaphor of chapters, but all chapters are stored within the one large document. This can make reading one chapter of a large document a very slow pr
ocess. Also HTML's simple text tags allow for the analysis and conversion of documents, for example the automated translation of web pages into other languages using the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://babel.altavista.com/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul AltaVista Babel Fish Translation Service}}}.
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b }\s11\ls4\ilvl1\outlinelevel1\sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b PDF is Just One Delivery Format
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283 PDF should be seen as just one option for delivering documents to readers. As an example in 1996 I prepared the book "{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.tomw.net.au/nt/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Net Traveller}}}", about how the Internet and the World Wide Web became a part of my everyday life. It was prepared as edited versions of web
pages and other on-line documents from five years working and living on-line. The text and images were first prepared as web pages, then converted from HTML to PDF via shareware tools using LaTeX and DVI as intermediate formats.
\par Two versions of the PDF were produced: one for on-screen presentation and one for delivery to an on-demand print bureau to produce conventional paperback books. There are three formats for the final document: HTML web pages, PDF e-book and printed book fro
m PDF. The use of text based, batch mode software developed as shareware by the academic community proved more effective for this than commercial WYSIWYG software. This also produced more compact output files.
\par This process of mutiple formats proved so succesful it was used for a later book "{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.tomw.net.au/uso/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Universal Service? - Telecommunications Policy and People with Disabilities}}}" by Michael J Bourk. The book has been {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0759614245/universalservice" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul published in the USA}}} from the on-line PDF file, with no pa
per galley's used.
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b }\s11\ls4\ilvl1\outlinelevel1\sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b XML for Common File Formats
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283 On 19 July, Sun Microsystems, Inc. {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.openoffice.org/project/www/press/sun_release.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul announced}}} it will release the source code of its StarOffice (TM) Suite, to the open source community under a GNU General Public License (GPL). Part of this is to define a set of XML-based file formats for word processing,
spreadsheets and presentation tools. Combined with the capabilities of XML enabled web browsers, such as the open-source {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.mozilla.org/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Mozilla}}}, this provides the possibility of low cost software generating portable file formats. A document created in a presentation too
l could then be presented using a web browser. There would be no need to convert the file from one proprietary format to another, or download a special viewer program, the web browser would display the document directly. It also creates the possibility of
more flexible document formats, such as integrating a printable text document and a slide show in the one file, or displaying database records as a document. An ambitious example of attempting such a system is the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://members.home.com/kovu401/mozoffice.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs18\cf2\ul Mozilla.org's}}} proposal for an open source
combined word processor and Web editor, based on the Mozilla web browser.
\par \pard\plain {\listtext\pard\plain \sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b }\s11\ls4\ilvl1\outlinelevel1\sb240\sa283\keepn\f3\fs36\b Will XML Succeed?
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283 XML is not certain to succeed. If fast and flexible editing and display software can be built for XML, it has a chance. However, the flexibility of the format may be its undoing. Anyone can easily invent a n XML DTD and propose it as a standard. In theory
any XML browser should be able to display the document. In reality document formats must be careful designed and widely agreed, to be useful. Well meaning groups and companies trying to gain market share could create a Babel of incompatible, overlapping an
d unimplementable XML standards. Examples of XML standards which perhaps need moire thought are the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.loc.gov/nls/niso/dtd.htm" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul DTD for Digital Talking Books}}}, the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/econstructSummary.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Building Construction Extensible Markup Language (bcXML)}}} and the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.sifinfo.org/spec.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF)}}}
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283{\i Tom Worthington is Director of the ACS Publishing Board, an e-business consultant to the federal government and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. See: {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.tomw.net.au/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs18\cf2\ul www.tomw.net.au}}}}
\par
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283 This material was originally prepared for the unit {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://cs.anu.edu.au/Student/comp3410/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Information Technology in Electronic Commerce (COMP3410)}}} at the {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.anu.edu.au/" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Australian National University}}}, semester 2, 2000. An abridged version entitled "{{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.tomw.net.au/2000/yxml.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Why the Extensible Markup Language?}}}" was published in Inform
ation Age magazine, {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www.infoage.idg.com.au/infoage1.nsf/all/E0B6476CBE739BE4CA25694A0010A371?OpenDocument" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul September 2000}}}
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283\qc Comments and corrections to: {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "mailto:webmaster@tomw.net.au" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul webmaster@tomw.net.au}}}
\par \pard\plain \s5\sa283\li707\ri0\fi0 Copyright \'a9 {{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "../index.html" }{\fldrslt \*\cs17\cf1\ul Tom Worthington}}} 2000.
\par }