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

Does your organization need structure?

Armed with basic information about structured authoring, the next logical question is whether your publishing workflow should be moved to a structured environment. In some scenarios, the decision is simple:

Content interchange. XML provides an excellent medium for content interchange. If you need to move content from one format to another, structured content will allow you to automate and systematize the process.
Enforcing uniformity across a document set. Defining a structure lets you apply and enforce consistency across documents. Larger workgroups, higher turnover, and complex formatting requirements for output all make the automation provided by a structured workflow more appealing.
Content management. XML files are in text format, which lends itself to setting up a repository for storage. You can also divide files into small chunks and place them in the repository. The larger the volume of content being produced, the more useful and compelling content management becomes.

Structure is not the solution for all content development workflows. In some environments, implementing structure will be more trouble than it’s worth. The following are some examples where structure probably doesn’t make sense:

Fiction and other creative writing. Fiction is unlikely to fit into a predefined structure, and it probably doesn’t require the type of reuse and management that technical content does.
Low-value content. If you do not plan to reuse content, or if a document doesn’t contain sufficient information, the effort of structuring it is probably not worth it. Day-to-day business communications, such as email and memos, generally fall in this category. Be on the lookout, though, for higher-value content, such as complex proposals, that could be reused.
Small sets of technical content. Organizations with thousands of pages of content need to consider structure. Organizations with tens of thousands or more pages almost certainly need both structure and content management. An organization that only manages 100 pages of content doesn’t need elaborate structure and content management. Somewhere between 100 and 1,000 pages, there is a point where the value of structure outweighs the implementation cost.

Next page:
Implementing a structured workflow