| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> | |
| <report> | |
| <title>Getting started with SGML</title> | |
| <chapter> | |
| <title>The business challenge</title> | |
| <intro> | |
| <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> | |
| <graphic graphname="infoflow"/></intro></chapter> | |
| <chapter> | |
| <title>Getting to know SGML</title> | |
| <intro> | |
| <para>While SGML is a fairly recent technology, the use of | |
| <emph>markup</emph> in computer-generated documents has existed for a | |
| while.</para></intro> | |
| <section shorttitle="What is markup?"> | |
| <title>What is markup, or everything you always wanted to know about | |
| document preparation but were afraid to ask?</title> | |
| <intro> | |
| <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></intro> | |
| <topic topicid="top1"> | |
| <title>Procedural markup</title> | |
| <para>Most electronic publishing systems today use some form of | |
| procedural markup. Procedural markup codes are good for one | |
| presentation of the information.</para></topic> | |
| <topic topicid="top2"> | |
| <title>Generic markup</title> | |
| <para>Generic markup (also known as descriptive markup) describes the | |
| <emph>purpose</emph> of the text in a document. A basic concept of | |
| generic markup is that the content of a document must be separate from | |
| the style. Generic markup allows for multiple presentations of the | |
| information.</para></topic> | |
| <topic topicid="top3"> | |
| <title>Drawbacks of procedural markup</title> | |
| <para>Industries involved in technical documentation increasingly | |
| prefer generic over procedural markup schemes. When a company changes | |
| software or hardware systems, enormous data translation tasks arise, | |
| often resulting in errors.</para></topic></section> | |
| <section shorttitle="What is SGML?"> | |
| <title>What <emph>is</emph> SGML in the grand scheme of the universe, anyway?</title> | |
| <intro> | |
| <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></intro></section> | |
| <section shorttitle="How does SGML work?"> | |
| <title>How is SGML and would you recommend it to your grandmother?</title> | |
| <intro> | |
| <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></intro> | |
| <topic topicid="top4"> | |
| <title>Structure</title> | |
| <para>At the heart of an SGML application is a file called the DTD, or | |
| Document Type Definition. The DTD sets up the structure of a document, | |
| much like a database schema describes the types of information it | |
| handles.</para> | |
| <para>A database schema also defines the relationships between the | |
| various types of data. Similarly, a DTD specifies <emph>rules</emph> | |
| to help ensure documents have a consistent, logical structure.</para></topic> | |
| <topic topicid="top5"> | |
| <title>Content</title> | |
| <para>Content is the information itself. The method for identifying | |
| the information and its meaning within this framework is called | |
| <emph>tagging</emph>. Tagging must | |
| conform to the rules established in the DTD (see <xref xrefid="top4"/>).</para> | |
| <graphic graphname="tagexamp"/></topic> | |
| <topic topicid="top6"> | |
| <title>Style</title> | |
| <para>SGML does not standardize style or other processing methods for | |
| information stored in SGML.</para></topic></section></chapter> | |
| <chapter> | |
| <title>Resources</title> | |
| <section> | |
| <title>Conferences, tutorials, and training</title> | |
| <intro> | |
| <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> | |
| </intro> | |
| </section> | |
| </chapter> | |
| </report> |