Category: Content creation and design (Page 69 of 69)

The World Wide Web Consortium has issued Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) as a W3C Candidate Recommendation. Advancement of the document to Candidate Recommendation is an invitation to the Web development community at large to make implementations of SVG and provide technical feedback. Web designers have requirements for graphics formats which display well on a range of different devices, screen sizes, and printer resolutions. They need rich graphical capabilities, good internationalization, responsive animation and interactive behavior in a way that takes advantage of the growing XML infrastructure used in e-commerce, publishing, and B2B communication.

Web designers demand vendor-neutral, cross-platform interoperability. SVG brings the advantages of XML to the world of vector graphics. It enables the textual content of graphics – from logos to diagrams – to be searched, indexed, and displayed in multiple languages. This is a significant benefit for both accessibility and internationalization. Related W3C specifications such as the Document Object Model (DOM) allow for easy server-side generation and dynamic, client-side modification of graphics and text. SVG also benefits from W3C technologies such as CSS and XSL style sheets, RDF metadata, SMIL Animation and XML Linking. In addition to being an excellent format for stand-alone graphics, the full power of SVG is seen when it is combined with other XML grammars; for example to deliver multimedia applications, hold business data, or render mathematical expressions. Bringing the XML advantage to vector graphics benefits all industries that depend on rich graphics delivery – advertising, electronic commerce, process control, mapping, financial services, and education all have immediate needs for SVG.

The SVG Working Group consists of key industry and research players including, in alphabetical order: Adobe Systems, AOL/Netscape, Apple, Autodesk, Canon, Corel, CSIRO, Eastman Kodak, Excosoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, ILOG, IntraNet Systems, Macromedia, Microsoft, OASIS, Opera, Oxford Brookes University, Quark, Sun Microsystems, and Xerox. www.w3.org

SoftQuad Software, Ltd. and Vignette Corporation announced that they have partnered to provide e-businesses with a comprehensive platform for implementing and deploying XML-based content solutions. Through the integration of SoftQuad’s XMetaL content-creation platform, and the Vignette V/5 eBusiness Platform, businesses can now leverage the use of XML technology. This partnership allows for the deployment of Web-based solutions that capture content from a wide variety of sources and integrate it with both internal and external systems. SoftQuad Software has become a Vignette Technology Partner and will also become a Vignette V2B Services partner. Vignette V2B Services streamline the process of purchasing, implementing and using e-business applications. Vignette V2B Services are provided via the Vignette V2B MarketPlace and Vignette V2B Communities. The integration of the two products gives e-businesses the ability to efficiently create and work with XML documents within a productive workflow environment, enabling the delivery of personalized content that attracts customers and builds successful e-relationships more quickly than ever before. With XMetaL’s word processor-like interface, more people within an organization can quickly create content directly in XML, or convert documents from other formats including Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, into XML. Content creators can then save XML documents directly within the Vignette V/5 eBusiness Platform production workflow. To further streamline the approval and revision process, XML content can be retrieved and submitted to Vignette’s Web-based workflow management interface or directly from within XMetaL. The transparency of the integration dramatically decreases the costs associated with providing an XML content solution and accelerates the speed with which e-businesses can deliver customized content to their customers. www.vignette.com, www.softquad.com

SoftQuad Software, Ltd. announced MarketAgility, an XML-based content solution that gives businesses more power and control over the creation, management and real-time delivery of product information to e-marketplaces and e-procurement systems. MarketAgility provides suppliers with an efficient and cost-effective way to move product information from their enterprises to multiple electronic distribution channels. MarketAgility 1.0, formerly code named Global OnRamp, is scheduled for release in September, 2000. Suppliers until now have had trouble collecting their product information, which has generally been located in disparate sources throughout their enterprises. It’s also been difficult to translate that information into the various distinct formats required by different e-marketplaces. Even after these initial barriers have been overcome, suppliers have still found it hard to maintain up-to-date product and pricing information and to target and differentiate their products across multiple distribution channels. MarketAgility lets suppliers quickly leverage their existing infrastructure and business processes to collect product information from wherever it resides in the enterprise, whether in content management systems, electronic resource planning systems, enterprise databases, or Microsoft Word or Excel files. It then automatically delivers this information in a format that is fully customized for different e-markets in their specific dialect of XML. In addition, MarketAgility allows suppliers to maintain their competitive advantage by rapidly and incrementally updating product and pricing information across all channels. MarketAgility is comprised of three major components: the MarketAgility XML Connector, the MarketAgility XML Server, and the MarketAgility XML Transporter. MarketAgility also incorporates SoftQuad’s XMetaL technology, an enabler for XML content applications. MarketAgility allows content revisions to be made directly within XML. Suppliers can now easily supplement their product data with rich content and better differentiate themselves in e-markets. MarketAgility supports common industry standards such as BizTalk, W3C Schemas, xCBL and cXML. www.softquad.com

Arbortext, Inc. announced their product support of the W3C’s Recommendation for XHTML 1.0. Available in Arbortext software products, this support provides customers a way to reformulate HTML 4 as XML. XHTML 1.0, a W3C Recommendation, allows authors to create Web documents that can be processed by XML-enabled software while still working with current HTML browsers. With XHTML 1.0, XML’s promise of being able to mix and match known HTML 4 elements with elements from other XML languages is extended to more application domains including wireless devices and eBooks. Available immediately, XHTML support can be downloaded from www.arbortext.com. All Arbortext customers are eligible to receive this at no charge as an update from the Arbortext Support Web site. Adept version 8.0 and above and all versions of Epic support this update. www.arbortext.com

SoftQuad Software Inc. has started shipping XMetaL 1.0, a full-featured, easy-to-use XML authoring tool. XMetaL is an advanced, simple to deploy XML authoring tool for customers working with XML and SGML. Modeled on common word processing applications, it offers a familiar, easy-to-use, authoring environment that virtually eliminates unnecessary learning curves and training costs. By easily creating XML content, XMetaL eliminates the need to convert documents authored in traditional word processors, streamlines the publishing process and substantially reduces conversion expenses. XMetaL’s extensive customization features enable the authoring environment to be optimized for any DTD, in many instances without programming. Its COM-based architecture and support for any Windows scripting language ensure that XMetaL can be extended and integrated into any existing publishing infrastructure. Its comprehensive support of SGML and web technologies makes XMetaL a tool for any hybrid SGML/XML environment. XMetaL is shipping today and is available at a cost of U.S. $495 per single user license. The product will be sold both directly and through VARs and OEMs. Volume discounts, site licenses, partner programs and on-site training are all available. www.softquad.com