The IDPF announced the Fixed Layout specification on the 15th March 2012. Here it is 17th March 2012 and we are able to have the first IDPF sample fixed layout ePub3 books up for viewing on AZARDI Online.
It was relatively straight-forward to map the IDPF specification to the AZARDI fixed layout method as the match was very close. There are only so many ways fixed layout can be done!
We have also uploaded the IDPF sample version of Moby Dick with two chapters containing SMIL overlays for those interested in this area of the ePub3 feature list.
AZARDI 8 is now available at azardi.infogridpacific.com. This is the first release with auto updating. Mac and Linux will silently update. For those with AZARDI 7, Windows 7 may ask for permission and show an unsigned/unknown publisher box.
This is a relatively low-key upgrade. We have a lot more features planned for the next release based on requests and recommendations from users, and to address the demands of digital content.
The current fascination with Javascript and CSS, the encapsulated formats of PDF and ePub, and other distractions, blinds many to the value and need of consistent, reliable, highly controlled XHTML and the serious foundation business strategy needed for digital content ownership... regardless of content genre.
I read a laughable comment about how we produced EPUB3 UNLEASHED. "The market will wait until Adobe comes out with the tools". That is the joke. Sure they will have tools that will be able to produce something like EPUB UNLEASHED. But not with a controlled XHTML foundation and in two days, with two production "resources" in India. The cost of producing EPUB3 UNLEASHED... around INR 5000 or US$100.
The IGP:FoundationXHTML series continues. I am skipping F3-Inline content here and moving straight to F4 Headings. The reason for this is that Inline or phrasing content is big, scary, detailed and consists of many, many parts that move in many directions for any coherent XML strategy. Inline content encourages oxymorons like massively small.
Phrasing/inline content is for the XML hard-core. It encapsulates XML to support links, generated content, generated links, processed content, semantic terms, index insertion points, metadata and of course styles like drop-caps, italics and bold text to name just a few.
This post continues the FX series and deals primarily with paragraphs that are in the primary IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) galley-rw flow. It also provides a list of standard descriptive paragraphs that can be found in the primary content flow, or may be found in inserted block structures.
At the risk of being shot down by huge intellectual linguistic experts, I have to say paragraphs are pretty much the most important identifiable unit of taggable content that brings sense to text (except I really do like lists too). Everything else hangs off or is inserted between the paragraphs. We really like paragraphs as XML content containers and work them very, very hard in FX.
Central to any XML strategy is the root element. Because IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) is very concerned about format generation, reuse, remixing and future value it does not use a document genre as the root element, instead it uses a content flow container.
FX uses <div class="galley-rw"> as the primary content container. Galley best defines the content as a single continuous flow that is only interrupted or enhanced by the nature of the presentation format properties when they are generated or applied. (eg. Pagination in a PDF, chapters or topics in an online format, link jumps, etc., editing tool assistants in a production environment.)
This post continues the discussion on using XHTML for a high-value publisher digital content strategy and how we use IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) to create valuable, sustainable, digital content strategies for publishers. The previous post outlined the FX content classification scheme used to control the XML grammar and tagging patterns for various content types.
Sections are classified as F0 (zero) in FX. Sections are probably the most important XML structure in the digital content universe where freedom from the bookbinders glue is easy and instant. Across all publisher content of all types, including the internet, sections are the highest visibility, valuable semantic unit of content.
Critical to any XML strategy is control of the tagging vocabularies and how and where they are used. IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) is strictly classified more or less in consonance with the primary XHTML content type deconstruction; but is refined to address publishing specific structures as well as boring ol' web structures.
FX has no root document type tag such as book, article, play, etc. The document type or genre is handled by metadata for any particular assembly of content. The reason for this is content reuse doesn't need the overhead of if/how/when; a book section can be mixed with a learning module or with how-to topic.
With document type relegated to metadata, the most important structural components become sections in all their interesting glory. For primary content reuse, the section is the most dominant semantic unit of content. This post outlines the primary FX classification structures and we will go into each one in more detail in follow-up posts.
This blog assumes you are interested in using XHTML and CSS as your core digital content long-term XML strategy. If not, stop reading. It is long and detailed.
Before getting into the details of an XHTML strategy for valuable publisher content in later blogs, here I review the relative strengths and weaknesses of XHTML as the primary XML storage method for your content's future. We need to be able to play against the stengths, negate the weaknesses, and develop a sustainable controlled XML that delivers immediate and future value.
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.
