Publishing with XML

XML Trenches. Bad DocBook

The XML Trenches posts are case studies of real-world publisher XML events. The idea is to illustrate the fact that digital content strategies need the right tools and approach, and are a guide to help publishers make the right decisions.

We just received a DocBook XML file from a publisher who asked, "Can this be used to make a Mobipocket for Amazon?". The DocBook XML had already been used by the producer to make an ePub. We cracked it open to have a look.

It was a valid and well-formed DocBook file with a custom namespace, but there were significant tagging and structural errors which stop it being usable except by spending time = money. I have posted on this before in Sustainable XML Strategies.

This is the issue with every DocBook produced book XML I have ever seen. They cannot be used to produce more outputs without significant analysis, time and more work. 

Digital Content Production. Change Management Challenges

I have been requested to describe the change management challenges of moving to digital production. That was made from the ePub blog, but the topic is clearly XML production. This is a first post answering those questions. Starting with the high, ethereal ground of change management to digital content strategies. 

So what are the considerations for publishers when deploying a potentially business-changing application such as IGP:FLIP?

This post is a summary of some change issues that may have to be addressed within any organization. Depending on how formal you want to be change can be analysed as follows, using the ADKAR method:

Awareness– of why the change is needed.

Desire – to support and participate in the change.

Knowledge – of how to change.

Ability – to implement new skills and behaviours.

Reinforcement – to sustain the change.

This post is an introduction to some of the considerations.

IGP:FoundationXHTML goes HTML5

It's time to get ready for a bigger than ePub digital content future. So IGP:FoundationXHTML is now officially HTML5 ready to go. Stand-by your interactive, video, canvas, local storage, everything in a browser content experience (or not).

Nothing changes the XHTML that is delivered to ePub, or Mobi. They get their correct XHTML 1.1 strict headers processed in by Formats on Demand at compile time. What we have done is upgraded the archive files for IGP:FoundationXHTML to XHTML 5. (that just means well formed HTML5, so XML processors can do their stuff on the content, and browsers instantly know they are looking at HTML5. It really is fantastic stuff.

That means the page declarations have changed.

Image Control XHTML and CSS

I was asked for a code snippet the Using ePub blog, on controlling image size and positioning with CSS. This is more correctly an XML question, than ePub, so I have given the answer here.

We have a defined and controlled grammar XHTML we call IGP:FoundationXHTML, or FX for short. This delivers content strategies that are consistent, simple, reusable and processable. FX is the heart that allows the same XHTML to produce sophisticated print PDF, eBook formats, packages and other files easily and instantly.

The real need for publishers of content of all types is not ePubs - ePub is as terminal a format as paper,  especially once DRM is applied. Publishers need a current and future-value digital content strategy. FX delivers that.

On to the snippet!

IGP:FLIP available as SaaS Model

Well we have finally reached the point where IGP:FLIP can be (and should be) released as a SaaS model, so it has been.

Sunday the 4th April 2010 is the day. Any Publisher of any size can now take advantage of all the features of the most powerful XML digital production system available anywhere today from just US$99.00 per month. Thats:

INR 4,450.00
UKP 65.00
Euro 74.00
AUD 110.00
NZD 140.00
SGD 140.00

For more information go to IGP:FLIP Publisher Portals, and start your XML digital content for the future strategy instantly, and affordably.

Building FX Tagging Patterns

As dicussed earlier, IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) tagging patterns at least acknowledge the concepts of Microformats (Wikipedia, Home page), it's not quite the same because it's much more than just metadata, and because of the much larger range of content fragment genres that need to be addressed to cover the widest range of publisher content.

In quick summary, Microformats are designed for humans first and machines second and are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. Microformats intend to solve simpler problems first by adapting to current behaviours and usage patterns. The following list has been lifted from and adapted from the Microformat web site.

XML Flashcards in IGP:FLIP

We have just been through a small in-house publishing project where the layout capabilities of XHTML and CSS for print was fully exploited. We are in the process of adding 150 new production editors and they have to be fully trained in image processing, proofing and XML production in just a few weeks. It's a pressure-cooker course.

We have our own highly optimized production tools for all aspects of digitization work so the steep learning curves associated with third party desktop applications is removed. But the production teams still have to all be able to talk with the same quality vocabulary, and instantly analyse books, magazines and other content into various structures for processing in IGP:FLIP and production to print, e-books and channel delivered content.

It was essential that the learning process and training outcomes could be quantified. One of the main learning and evaluation tools we decided to use for the knowledge aspects of this program was Flashcards. Good old fashioned printed ones so they can be taken home and used anywhere any time.

We needed to make a lot of Flashcards very fast. They had to be authored, reviewed, and fully pilot tested before going live with users.  Creating a lot of flashcard sets is a big undertaking and very detailed work. To the rescue - XHTML and the new CSS-3 box-sizing: border-box in IGP:FLIP.

For those who don't know what box-sizing does, you can read a bit more here. The important point is that Firefox, Safari and PrinceXML all support this powerful CSS feature.

Publishing XML is Tagging Patterns

Things are picking up apace in 2010 and the blog is constantly nagging me for being negligent.

IGP:FLIP allows the importing and conversion to FoundationXHTML of a wide range of formats including word-processor files, spreadsheets, presentations, text and other items. The text and structure aspects of the content are imported substantially intact.What goes missing is the original style information.

We constantly get asked "Why can't IGP:FLIP import XML?" Well of course it can, but not through the general office formats importer. XML is not a format. It is an encoding standard that lets anyone use agreed vocabularies to define machine to machine data interchange. A specific XML schema or DTD is getting close to being a format, but is usually a long way from being usable except in an opaque XML editing or processing environment.

IGP:FLIP in 2010

IGP:FLIP, the Infogrid Pacific multi-format XML production environment has gone through a massive feature update. Some of these have been against the impending release of IGP:Document Designer, the new interactive book/template design toolkit.  

Sustainable XML Strategies

The main problem with any potential content XML strategy is... which or what XML DTD or schema to use. This decision affects all publishers including corporate, institutional and government.

As part of the "which XML" decision making, you no longer have to think about what you want to do with your content in the future. Right now if you are not wanting your content ready for absolutely anything and everything you shouldn't be thinking XML. Ready for everything means at least all of the following: