JustSystems and Turn-Key Systems are now offering the XMetaL TopLeaf plugin. This product, when used in conjunction with XMetaL Author and TopLeaf Workstation allows users to create stylesheets for PDF output in a graphical environment. Working with the DITA Open Toolkit, this solution provides design and output options to users with little or no XSL / XSL:FO expertise. Images, fonts, running heads, lists, tables, pagination and many other common document elements are configured and the output can be created directly from XMetaL Author. TopLeaf is an XML rendering system which allows users to set up complex professional quality jobs using a revolutionary new point and click interface.
Feature Highlights: Typesetting from single or multiple documents; Automatic production of tables of contents and indexes; Built-in PDF generation, including bookmarks and hyperlinks (internal and to the web); Comprehensive support for true looseleaf publishing, including auto generation of insert pages and filing instructions; and Graphical Page Layout editor. http://na.justsystems.com/ http://www.turnkey.com.au/
Recently in DITA Category
SDL, a provider of Global Information Management solutions, announced the release of SDL Trisoft 2011 for DITA, the XML standard for technical writing. With this new release of the company’s Component Content Management software, SDL offers DITA capabilities. One strength of SDL Trisoft is the ability to manage large volumes and variations of DITA topics that comprise a company’s technical product information set. With DITA 1.2 support, SDL Trisoft can now be used with the DITA Learning and Training specialization, the new task model and the machine-industry specialization. Users can also take advantage of new ways of managing content variations and achieving reuse with DITA 1.2’s new capabilities of “keyref”, “conkeyref”, “conref push” and “conref ranges”. In addition to supporting the DITA 1.2 standard, SDL Trisoft offers new authoring and publishing capabilities that enhance the user experience. A new search architecture gives the ability to search for information faster and with more granular precision. The new search includes the ability to search and find content inside XML elements and attributes, variables and conditions and to identify the context in which content resides. New capabilities are offered in the SDL Trisoft Publication Manager that include the ability to save a new version of an open publication, to check in / out from the Browse Repository dialog, to find most recently used items, to save output formats in the next version of a publication, to see an InContext Preview of Content, and to add additional fields to the Baseline tab and to autocomplete items that are added when building a publication. To address the growth and adoption of DITA in Japan, SDL Trisoft is also releasing a version of its desktop clients as Publication Manager and Authoring Bridge in Japanese. SDL Trisoft now supports Adobe Flash in the Publication Manager, enabling synchronization of technical content with Flash and other multimedia graphics. To support interaction with the community of content consumers, SDL Trisoft now supports round-tripping of comments from SDL LiveContent back to SDL Trisoft, providing a closed-loop feedback mechanism between the community and the information developer. SDL Trisoft is also now integrated with SDL XPP, the company’s advanced XML Professional Publisher for customers who have high volumes or advanced layout requirements. SDL Trisoft provides support for Transparent Data Encryption in Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008, as well as platform support for Windows® Server® 2008 R2 64-bit. The system also supports 64-bit Support Desktop Clients based on Windows 7 and Internet Explorer® 8 support for the SDL Trisoft Web Client. SDL Trisoft is integrated via an authoring bridge to Adobe FrameMaker® 9.0, PTC Arbortext® Editor 5.4 and Just Systems XMetaL® 6.0. Support for XMetaL 6.0-J, the Japanese version of XMetaL, will follow soon. www.sdl.com/
SDL, the provider of Global Information Management solutions, announced the availability of an integration between SDL Trisoft and Leximation DITA-FMx, the DITA plugin for Adobe FrameMaker. By providing a bridge between SDL Trisoft and Leximation DITA-FMx, SDL gives the ability to use SDL’s advaComponent Content Management capabilities with Adobe FrameMaker. The new integration combines technologies for authoring and managing structured content. Together SDL and Leximation share several major clients that want a joint solution. www.sdl.com www.leximation.com
Simply DITA is a specialized implementation of Content Mapper, Simply XML’s Microsoft Word to XML authoring platform. With Simply DITA, both casual authors and technical writers can use Microsoft Word to adopt the DITA standard. The user interface is straight forward with a series of ribbon-based menus that are integrated with the Microsoft Word 2007 interface. Users can create DITA Topics, DITA Tasks, DITA Concepts, DITA References, and DITA Maps – key components of the DITA standard. The Simply DITA document structure uses a streamlined set of the DITA elements that remove complexities not needed by about 95% of potential DITA authors. Simply DITA complements more technical XML authoring tools like XMetal, Structured FrameMaker, and Arbortext Editor that may be required by authors writing very technical content. Documents created with Simply DITA can be opened and edited using these XML tools and passed seamlessly back to authors working in Microsoft Word. Saving content as valid DITA in XML permits the enterprise to take advantage of XML, but the Microsoft Word-based author never has to see or understand the XML. Simply DITA enables multi-channel publishing through full integration with the DITA Open Tool Kit. The tool includes a personal content repository and supports integration with SharePoint or other Content Management Systems (CMS) for advanced content storage and workflow management. Authors can easily add metadata to their content from within Microsoft Word and search for content through locally controlled metadata, or metadata standards adopted by the enterprise. Simply DITA also supports efficient direct or batch import of structured legacy documents. Simply DITA is supported by an optional instructor-led, Web-based learning program to teach authors how to construct high-performance content under the DITA standard. Unlike other DITA training programs, the Simply DITA training programdoesn’t need to teach authors the technical complexities of understanding and using XML markup code. Since the Simply DITA software takes care of the XML markup behind the scenes, the training can focus on bigger-picture concepts and how to write reusable content that enhances reader productivity and meets the DITA requirements. http://www.simplyxml.com/
The Gilbane Group, a Division of Outsell, Inc., has issued a call for input from the book publishing community on the current state of the digital transformation reshaping the industry. Through a web-based survey recently launched by Gilbane, book publishing professionals have a unique opportunity to voice concerns and share insights based on their actual experiences with digital publishing initiatives. The survey is now live and accessible to mid- to high-level managers who are working on the front lines of the transition to digital books. The survey is one component of the primary research for Gilbane’s upcoming study, A Blueprint for Book Publishing Transformation: Seven Essential Processes to Re-Invent Publishing, targeted for publication in summer 2010. The survey will capture information on ebook and related digital publishing efforts underway among the full spectrum of book publishers. A key outcome is the identification of pain points and barriers encountered by book publishers who are developing or expanding digital publishing programs, including areas such as royalties, digital format choices, and distribution problems. Survey participants will have access to the full report when available from Gilbane. Information on the survey and the study is available on the Gilbane website. http://gilbane.com
TransPerfect, parent company of Translations.com, and Astoria Software, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) Component Content Management (CCM) software, have announced that they have completed a merger. Financial details were not disclosed. San Francisco-based Astoria Software will join the TransPerfect family of companies and will continue to be led by current CEO Michael Rosinski. Before joining Astoria, Michael was a founding member of American Software's management team, where he was responsible for growing revenues to more than $100 million and completing one of the first successful IPOs in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market segment. A key client benefit of the merger will be the integration of the companies’ complementary technologies. TransPerfect develops and markets a family of GMS (Globalization Management System) software products, known as GlobalLink, that make translation workflows more efficient for corporate customers. Clients seeking to author and translate global content in XML, while adhering to DITA standards, will experience the greatest gains from the integration of Astoria/TransPerfect technology. http://www.transperfect.com/ http://www.astoriasoftware.com/
SDL announced the first release of the company’s end-to-end publishing technology for technical documentation. The solution developed by SDL’s Structured Content Technologies division addresses the changing demands of Internet and Smartphones with on-demand and interactive technical documentation. This new integration of SDL LiveContent and SDL Trisoft, the company’s Component Content Management system. This integration is designed to transform static documentation managed as publications into interactive web-based information. SDL LiveContent is a delivery engine that produces an interactive document with animated graphics, search for easy navigation and analytics. http://www.sdl.com/
Syncro Soft Ltd has announced the immediate availability of version 11.2 of its XML Editor and XML Author containing a set of tools supporting XML related technologies. Oxygen combines content author features like the CSS driven Visual XML editor with an XML development environment. It has support for the main document frameworks DITA, DocBook, TEI and XHTML and also includes support for all XML Schema languages, XSLT/XQuery Debuggers, WSDL analyzer, XML Databases, XML Diff and Merge, Subversion client and more. Version 11.2 of Oxygen XML Editor improves the XML authoring, the XML development tools, the support for large documents and the SVN Client. The visual XML editing (Author mode) is available now as a separate component that can be integrated in Java applications or, as an Applet, in Web applications. Other XML Author improvements include support for DITA reusable components, support for preserving the formatting for unchanged elements and an updated Author API containing a number of new extensions that allow customizing the Outline, the Breadcrumb and the Status Bar. The XSLT Debugger provides can now step inside XPATH 2.0 expressions. The Saxon 9 EE bundled with Oxygen can be used to run XQuery 1.1 transformations. The XProc support was aligned with the recent update as W3C Proposed Recommendation and includes the latest Calabash XProc processor. Hunspell (the engine used by OpenOffice, Mozilla and others) is now used by Oxygen for spell checking. Oxygen ships dictionaries for English, German, French and Spanish but users can install any from the almost 100 available dictionaries. The support for large documents has been improved, including the support for documents with very long lines. http://www.oxygenxml.com
IXIASOFT has announced a strategic technology partnership with XML-INTL. By integrating the IXIASOFT DITA CMS with the XML-INTL XTM Suite, IXIASOFT customers should benefit from a fully integrated translation management suite which should further enhance their control over the localization process. The DITA CMS is a content management system aimed at technical communicators for the authoring, management and publishing of DITA-based technical documentation. XML-INTL is the developer of the XMT Suite, set of tools for translation. The integration between the two offerings allow users to move their content from the CMS to the translation management tools and have access to updated localized content. http://www.ixiasoft.com/
JustSystems announced the availability of XMetaL Author Enterprise 6.0 and XMetaL Reviewer 6.0, the latest versions of the company’s collaborative XML structured authoring and document reviewing software tools. New in this release is an integration between the two products that unifies the XML authoring process with real-time, distributed web-based reviewing to accelerate documentation cycle. The XMetaL Author Enterprise 6.0 and XMetaL Reviewer 6.0 integration is designed for unified authoring and reviewing, so that authors have tools to initiate and manage reviews as well as a set of specialized editing commands that help them directly act upon suggestions. This integration works with the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard as well as other industry standards. Other key features of the new release include: an unlimited number of documents can now be managed within the realm of a single project; a rendition can be associated with the project and used for direct navigation from the place in the final document’s layout to the originating topic that is under review; and arbitrary attachments can be associated in any number with projects, project cycles and drafts. http://www.justsystems.com
Gilbane Boston 2011
