| <!DOCTYPE report SYSTEM "report.dtd"> |
| <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> |