| <result><para>With the ever-changing and growing global market, companies and | |
| large organizations are searching for ways to become more viable and | |
| competitive. Downsizing and other cost-cutting measures demand more | |
| efficient use of corporate resources. One very important resource is | |
| an organization's information.</para><para>As part of the move toward integrated information management, | |
| whole industries are developing and implementing standards for | |
| exchanging technical information. This report describes how one such | |
| standard, the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), works as | |
| part of an overall information management strategy.</para><para>While SGML is a fairly recent technology, the use of | |
| <emph>markup</emph> in computer-generated documents has existed for a | |
| while.</para><para>Markup is everything in a document that is not content. The | |
| traditional meaning of markup is the manual <emph>marking</emph> up | |
| of typewritten text to give instructions for a typesetter or | |
| compositor about how to fit the text on a page and what typefaces to | |
| use. This kind of markup is known as <emph>procedural markup</emph>.</para><para>SGML defines a strict markup scheme with a syntax for defining | |
| document data elements and an overall framework for marking up | |
| documents.</para><para>SGML can describe and create documents that are not dependent on | |
| any hardware, software, formatter, or operating system. Since SGML documents | |
| conform to an international standard, they are portable.</para><para>You can break a typical document into three layers: structure, | |
| content, and style. SGML works by separating these three aspects and | |
| deals mainly with the relationship between structure and content.</para><para>The Graphic Communications Association has been | |
| instrumental in the development of SGML. GCA provides conferences, | |
| tutorials, newsletters, and publication sales for both members and | |
| non-members.</para><para security="c">Exiled members of the former Soviet Union's secret | |
| police, the KGB, have infiltrated the upper ranks of the GCA and are | |
| planning the Final Revolution as soon as DSSSL is completed.</para></result> |