Structured authoring and XML

Table of contents

Abstract

What is structured authoring?

What is XML?

The impact of structured authoring on a publishing workflow

Workflow options

Roles and responsibilities

Developing a business case for structured authoring and XML

Does your organization need structure?

Implementing a structured workflow

Summary

The impact of structured authoring on a publishing workflow

Thirty years ago, technical writers began to make the transition from typewriters to computer-based writing. Initially, authors stored text in word-processing files, but formatting was done in a separate typesetting operation (Figure 5).

first-generation word-processing workflow

Figure 5: First-generation word-processing workflow

Next, the transition from dedicated word processing equipment to personal computers led to word processing software with the added ability to control formatting with embedded formatting codes. Authors learned how to write and format their documents (Figure 6).

text with formatting codes

Figure 6: Codes let you embed formatting information in a document

Formatting codes were soon grouped into paragraph styles or tags. Instead of specifying font, font size, alignment, and the like, the author specified a style code, which contained a group of formatting settings (Figure 7).

text with styles

Figure 7: Paragraph styles reference a style sheet instead of encoding style explicitly for each paragraph

With paragraph style sheets, a template designer could define the look and feel of documents for an entire workgroup by setting up a formatting template.

In some environments, templates are enforced strictly; in others, individual authors are allowed to customize formatting to suit their document and their personal preferences. When formatting and content development are separated, this special formatting becomes impossible.

In a structured authoring environment, authors create documents by assembling elements and text in an order permitted by the structure definition document (Figure 8).

You might think of structured authoring as being similar to template-based authoring with a strict template. Authors do not assign formatting; formatting is automatically assigned based on the structure of the document. Each output format has its own formatting specification.

structured authoring from the author's point of view

Figure 8: Structured authoring from the author’s point of view

Changing perceptions

XML and structured authoring result in a completely different way of looking at information. Instead of the familiar page- and paragraph-based metaphor, structured authoring requires that authors consider information as a hierarchy with a separate formatting layer (Figure 9).

representing a document as a series of layers

Figure 9: Representing a document as a series of layers

A document’s formatting can imply a certain structure—for example, a large, sans-serif font often indicates an important heading—but unstructured files do not describe how paragraphs are related to each other (Figure 10). XML makes it possible to encode structure into a document explicitly (Figure 11).

formatting can imply structure

Figure 10: Formatting can imply structure

XML captures structure explicitly

Figure 11: XML captures structure explicitly

Adding metadata to documents

Metadata is information that describes or classifies other information. A word-processing document usually contains basic metadata, such as the document’s title, author, and keywords.

Structured authoring supports metadata with elements and attributes. Element names themselves can provide metadata; for example, naming elements GlossaryTerm and GlossaryDefinition encapsulates a lot of information about the elements’ content. Attributes provide a way to label elements with additional information. Once the attributes are set up, you can then include, exclude, or process information based on the value of the attributes.

In structured authoring, you can assign metadata to elements in a document. With metadata, you label information with identifiers, such as:

Version
User level
Revision date
Author

Element attributes give you much finer control over metadata than the basic file-level information you can store in word-processing documents.

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