Digital Publishing

Typography in the Browser

Here is a sneak preview of the alpha version of  IGP:Typography in the Browser (TIB) extension for IGP:Digital Publisher. It shows the main setup and tracking features. 

Our first attempt at browser typography has been pretty limp because we were always trying to treat the primary XML editing tool as the place to do typography. However a print PDF from an XML/XHTML master source  is just another format. Once that penny had dropped TIB became a separate interface window focused only on typography, sourcing the stateful XML without changing it.

Besides being "just another format", it also has specific data associated with it that is not the content XML. That meant solving the separate storage of the tracking metrics and inserted flow items for a specific PDF rendition. 

Reviewing XML Options

I have been on a remorseless LinkedIn discussion on the values of XHTML vs. XML DTDs (again). I take the position that the big three DTDs DocBook, TEI and NLM are holes to sink money into. Most others say we see the point but we think all publishers should use DB/TEI/NLM.

These XML options have a place and application, but they are not a suitable option for general publisher content.

I am planning a guideline for creating an XML strategy using XHTML in my next article. Before we start with the XHTML strategy, lets look at these big three which are tirelessly quoted over and over as being suitable for "any" XML strategy. This gives some context. It may be more information than you wanted to know, but here goes.

XML or XHTML: Again

There has been a long, long, long discussion on LinkedIn about XHTML vs. XML (as if they are different). I am a proponent of coherent, managed, vocabulary controlled XHTML as the only sensible option for publishers of all types of content.

This small dissertation is a response to and commentary on the ideas introduced in the following statement from an XML consultant: 

It’s an interesting trail – particularly when it culminates with the question “where does this leave us in terms of XML workflow and 'single source' publishing?”