Syncro Soft released <oXygen/> XML Editor and Author version 11. Version 11 of <oXygen/> XML Editor comes with new features covering both XML development and XML authoring like: XProc support, integrated documentation for XSLT stylesheets, a new XQuery debugger (for the Oracle Berkeley DB XML database), MathML rendering and editing support, a smarter Author mode for an improved visual editing experience and DITA 1.2 features. The support for very large documents was improved to handle documents in the 200MB range in the editor and 10GB in the large files viewer, the SVN support was upgraded with new features and a number of processors and frameworks were updated to their latest versions. <oXygen/> 11 contains also an experimental integration with EMC Documentum Content Management System. <oXygen/> XML Editor can be purchased for a price of USD 449 for the Enterprise license, USD 349 for the Professional license, and USD 64 for Academic/Non-Commercial use (for the latter, the support and maintenance pack is included). <oXygen/> XML Author can be purchased for a price of USD 269 for the Enterprise license and USD 199 for the Professional license. <oXygen/> XML Editor and Author version 11 can be freely evaluated for 30 days. You can request a trial license key from http://www.oxygenxml.com
Category: Content creation and design (Page 56 of 70)
Technologies and strategies for authoring and editing, including word processors, structured editors, web and page layout and formatting, content conversion and migration, multichannel content, structured and unstructured data integration, and metadata creation.
Fourth in a series of interviews with sponsors of Gilbane’s 2009 study on Multilingual Product Content: Transforming Traditional Practices into Global Content Value Chains.
We spoke with Karl Darr, an independent consultant working with STAR Group. STAR Group is a leader in information management, localization, internationalization, and globalization solutions that address the entire lifecycle of technical communications. Karl talked with us about the importance of addressing the global content value chain (GCVC) in a comprehensive way, STAR Group’s role in delivering such solutions, and what he found compelling about the research.
Gilbane: How does your company support the value chain for global product content? (i.e., what does your company do?)
Darr: STAR Group’s mission has been to enable companies to build a single product that they can sell, ship and support anywhere in the world, along with all of the appropriate technical and end-user support literature in the native tongue for any target market. In every case, we find that the customer’s satisfaction and their perception of a quality purchase are directly related to understanding their new product in their native language.
Early on, STAR understood that a comprehensive, integrated solution could increase efficiency, while improving data quality and consistency. So, rather than acquire and integrate third party solutions that were not designed to work together, STAR Group developed a seamlessly integrated, end-to-end solution suite that included tools to accelerate SGML/XML authoring productivity with increased quality, integrated with Terminology Management, workflow, content management, Translation Memory, and publishing – all subject to monitoring and leaving a complete audit trail.
All of STAR’s technologies can be purchased as stand-alone products. They integrate and interoperate very well with other vendors’ products to provide a complete solution in mixed technology environments. However, as you might expect, STAR’s complete suite affords uncommon degrees of added efficiency, accuracy, quality and operational cost reductions.
Gilbane: Why did you choose to sponsor the Gilbane research?
Darr: STAR Group co-sponsored this research because the GCVC concept speaks directly to the sweet spot on which STAR has focused for 25 years. STAR Group has provided technologies and services to support every step along the GCVC, from information engineering, creation, and cross-functional synchronization to translation, localization, management, and static and dynamic publication along with dialog management and reporting.
Gilbane: What, in your opinion, is the most relevant/compelling/interesting result reported in the study?
Darr: The most relevant/compelling/interesting result reported in the study is that 70% of respondents claimed that the process of integrating their GCVC technologies was difficult at best. What is even more surprising is that, according to the research, only 20% of respondents claimed they had API-level integration between their translation management and CMS tools.
In other words, respondents are suffering from the fact that the people responsible for globalization efforts are dealing with limited vision, scope and fragmented tool sets. This causes ambiguities, duplications and errors that unnecessarily waste time, energy, resources and corporate profitability – while damaging product and corporate images, and at the same time weakening customer affiliations with the company.
I believe that this situation can only happen when top corporate management is more focused on getting product out the door than they are on optimizing the customer experience, which is critical to increasing profits. When customer experience is a top priority, these companies will recognize that globalization (or the GCVC) is a manufacturing process in its own right that needs to be prioritized right along with design, engineering, production and customer support. The GCVC is not a ‘bolt-on’ solution because it needs to be intimately involved in all of these processes. As such, GCVC efforts need to start as soon as the product planning process begins, be fully engaged as customer specifications become requirements, and continue in a collaborative manner throughout the process of a project becoming a product. But, they don’t end there either. Ongoing multilingual product support is critical for delivering an optimal customer experience, one that results in repeat or recurring business. Because all GCVC solutions will require ongoing maintenance and support, end-user companies need to ensure that whoever is providing support can cover the full spectrum of GVCV functions.
Often, our discussions with companies have only begun when organizations understand the depth and breadth of the GCVC. In some cases, they end up relying on us for nearly everything – from their technical writing to translation, workflow, content management and publishing, to spare parts order management with optimized diagnostics delivery and dialog management. Many of these organizations – some among the most successful global companies – have relegated the notion of a “document” to be an artifact of a by-gone era.
For insights into technology integration across the GCVC, see the section on “Content Management Integration” that begins on page 32 of the report. You can also learn how STAR Group helped BMW Motorrad implement an end-to-end infrastructure for global technical communication. Download the study for free.
Xyleme Inc. and Flatirons Solutions have announced their alliance to offer EMC Documentum services to training organizations in order to meet comprehensive, global learning requirements. With this collaboration, Flatirons Solutions provides a set of integration services for leveraging Xyleme’s native XML authoring and publishing tools within an organization’s current EMC Documentum infrastructure. The combination creates an integrated enterprise learning suite capable of delivering multi-modal training output and enhancing company-wide collaboration. The overall goal of the alliance is twofold: Create a single source of content at the enterprise level that enables a rapid time-to-market for new and customized learning products; Utilize open standards and native XML to provide the flexibility to handle new emerging channels and technology. http://www.xyleme.com http://www.flatironssolutions.com/
Ecordia has announced the availability of its new predictive content analysis application, the Ecordia Content Optimizer. Designed for copywriters, journalists, and SEO practitioners, this content analysis application provides automated intelligence and recommendations for improving the structure of content prior to publishing. Available for free, this turn-key web application provides a number of features to aid writers in the creation and validation of content including: advanced keyword research during authoring; detailed scoring of your content based on 15 proven SEO techniques; automated recommendations on how you can improve your content for search engines; intelligent keyword extraction that compares your content to popular search terms; sophisticated Keyword Analysis that scores your keyword usage based on 5 statistical formulas. The Ecordia Content Optimizer has been in beta development for over a year and is currently in use by a number of SEO practitioners. The Ecordia Content Optimizer provides content analysis capabilities ideally suited for web publishers who wish to: improve their quality score for landing pages used in PPC campaigns; SEO professionals that want to validate and review content prior to publishing; blog sites that wish to improve the quality of their ads from contextual ad networks; and PR Practitioners that want to optimize their press release prior to publishing. The Ecordia Content Optimizer is licensed on a per user monthly subscription. http://www.ecordia.com/
MadCap SoftwareExternal link has announced that MadCap Lingo 3.0 is now available. MadCap LingoExternal link, the XML-based, fully integrated translation memory system (TMS) and authoring tool solution, eliminates the need for file transfers in order to complete translation-preserving valuable content and formatting to deliver a consistent experience across multiple languages. With version 3.0, MadCap Lingo adds a new Project Packager function that bridges the gap between authors and translators who use other TMS software. Using the Project Packager in MadCap Lingo, authors should be able to work with translators to streamline the translation process, track the status of completion, and obtain more accurate project cost estimates. MadCap Lingo 3.0 also features a new TermBase Editor for creating databases of reusable translated terms, and enhanced translation memory. Through integration between MadCap Lingo and MadCap’s authoring and multimedia applications, MadCap hopes to offer a powerful integrated authoring and localization workflow. Project Packager in MadCap Lingo 3.0 is designed to make it easier for authors who need their documentation translated into another language but work with a translator who relies on a TMS tool other than MadCap Lingo. Using Project Packager, the author can create a MadCap Lingo project with all the files that require translation, and bundle it in a ZIP file and send it to the translator. MadCap Lingo displays a list of all files that need to be translated, going beyond text to include skins, glossaries, search filter sets, and much more. As a result, the author can ensure that the translator receives all of the files requiring translation. This should streamline the process while enabling more accurate translation project estimates, helping translators to avoid accidentally underestimating project costs based on an incomplete file count-and protecting authors from unexpected cost overruns. Once the translation is complete, the translator sends a ZIP file with the content. The author then simply merges the translated file in MadCap Lingo, which is used to confirm the completeness of the translation. The author can then run statistical reports showing information for each project and file to determine what has/ has not been translated, how many words/segments have been translated and/or still need to be translated, and much more. The author can then export the MadCap Lingo project to a range of outputs, such as a Flare project file for online and print publishing, Word document, or even a Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) file, among others. The key new features of MadCap Lingo 3.0 are: the new TermBase Editor which enables translators to create and manage concept-oriented, multilingual terminology databases, “termbases,” making it significantly easier to reuse translated terms; the ability to import and export Term Base eXchange (TBX) files, an open, XML-based standard used for exchanging structured terminological data; translation memory – Apply Suggestions to Project function, which makes it possible to view and automatically apply translation memory suggestions to an entire project, rather than just one segment, saving hours of effort; dynamic help window pane lock lets the translator keep the current help topic frozen in place while moving around in the MadCap Lingo interface, making it easier to follow steps or other information placed in the Help topic; minimize to system tray option; multiple file support allows multiple files to be selected when creating a new MadCap Lingo project, for example HTM, HTML, XML, DITA or DOC files. http://www.madcapsoftware.com/
I recently wrote a short Gilbane Spotlight article for the EMC XML community site about the state of Iowa going paperless (article can be found here) in regards to its Administrative Code publication. It got me to thinking, “When is a book no longer a book?”
Originally the admin code was produced as a 10,000 page loose-leaf publication service containing all the regulations of the state. For the last 10 years it has also appeared on the Web as PDFs of pages, and more recently, independent data chunks in HTML. And now they have discontinued the commercial printing of the loose-leaf version and only rely on the electronic versions to inform the public. They still produce PDF pages that resemble the printed volumes that are intended for local printing of select sections by public users of the information. But the electronic HTML version is being enhanced to improve reusability of the content, present it in alternative forms and integrated with related materials, etc. Think mashups and improved search capabilities. The content is managed in an XML-based Single Source Publishing system that produces all output forms.
I have migrated many, many printed publications to XML SSP platforms. Most follow the same evolutionary path regarding how the information is delivered to consumers. First they are printed. Then a second electronic copy is produced simultaneously with the print using separate production processes. Then the data is organized in a single database and reformatted to allow editing that can produce both print and electronic. Eventually the data gets enhanced and possibly broken into chunks to better enable reusing the content, but the print is still a viable output format. Later, the print is discontinued as the subscription list falls and the print product is no longer feasible. Or the electronic version is so much better, that people stop buying the print version.
So back to the original question, is it no longer a book? Is it when you stop printing pages? Or when you stop producing the content in page-oriented PDFs? Or does it have to do with how you manage and store the information?
Other changes take place in how the information is edited, formatted, and stored that might influence the answer to the question. For instance, if the content is still managed as a series of flat files, like chapters, and assembled for print, it seems to me that it is still a book, especially if it still contains content that is very book oriented, like tables of contents and other front matter, indexes, and even page numbers. Eventually, the content may be reorganized as logical chunks stored in a database, extracted for one or more output formats and organized appropriately for each delivery version, as in SSP systems. Print artifacts like TOCs may be completely generated and not stored as persistent objects, or they can be created and managed as build lists or maps (like with DITA). As long as one version is still book-like, IMHO it is still a book.
I would posit that once the printed versions are discontinued, and all electronic versions no longer contain print-specific artifacts, then maybe this is no longer a book, but simply content.
Syncro Soft Ltd has announced the availability of version 10.3 of its XML Editor and XML Author. Oxygen combines content author features like the CSS driven Visual XML editor with a fully featured XML development environment. It has ready to use 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 10.3 of Oxygen XML Editor improves both the XML Authoring and the XML Development capabilities. As a result of user feedback the Oxygen XML Author API was reorganized and extended with additional functionality. There are various improvements to the existing frameworks (DITA, DocBook, TEI, etc.) like automatic ID generation or DITA aware search and replace. A new XML development feature is the Component Dependencies View that presents a tree of component dependencies starting with a specified component for XSLT, XML Schema, Relax NG and NVDL. The new version also integrates the Saxon SA XQuery Update functionality and updates a number of components to their latest versions. http://www.oxygenxml.com/
Mark Logic Corporation released the MarkLogic Toolkit for Excel. This new offering provides users a free way to integrate Microsoft Office Excel 2007 with MarkLogic Server. Earlier this year, Mark Logic delivered a Toolkit for Word and a Connector for SharePoint. Together, these offerings allow users to extend the functionality of Microsoft Office products and build applications leveraging the native document format, Office Open XML (OOXML). Distributed under an open source model, MarkLogic Toolkit for Excel comes with an Excel add-in that allows users to deploy information applications into Excel, comprehensive libraries for managing and manipulating Excel data, and a sample application that leverages best practices. The MarkLogic Toolkit for Excel offers greater search functionality, allowing organizations to search across their Excel files for worksheets, cells, and formulas. Search results can be imported directly into the workbooks that users are actively authoring. Workbooks, worksheets, formulas, and cells can be exported directly from active Excel documents to MarkLogic Server for immediate use by queries and applications. The Toolkit for Excel allows customers to easily create new Excel workbooks from existing XML documents. Users can now manipulate and re-use workbooks stored in the repository with a built-in XQuery library. For instance, a financial services firm can replace the manual process of cutting-and-pasting information from XBRL documents to create reports in Excel with an automated system. Utilizing Toolkit for Excel, this streamlined process extracts relevant sections of XBRL reports, combines them, and saves them as an Excel file. The Toolkit also allows users to add and edit multiple custom metadata documents across workbooks. This improves the ability for users to discover and reuse information contained in Excel spreadsheets. To download MarkLogic Toolkit for Excel, visit the Mark Logic Developer Workshop located at http://developer.marklogic.com/code/, http://www.marklogic.com
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