Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a text format that uses tags (similar to HTML) to identify elements. It was originally designed for large-scale electronic publishing, where content could be reused in different outputs or presented in different ways. It now plays an important role in the exchange of a wide variety of text and other data on the Web. XML is based on standards controlled by the World-Wide Web Consortium. For the latest specifications, see www.w3.org/xml.

Tutorials and Books

There are many XML tutorials available on the Web. A Google search for “XML tutorial” yields over 250,000 hits. The World Wide Web Consortium has an excellent tutorial here. For more XML resources, see www.xml.com.

For an introductory book on XML, see Elizabeth Castro’s “XML for the World-Wide Web: Visual Start Guide”.

Erik Ray’s book “Learning XML” is more detailed, and relates XML specifically to writing.

XML Editors

There are many XML editors on the market. Some are free, while others must be purchased. Some are designed more for programmers than for writers. For writing, industry-standard XML editors include Arbortext Editor and JustSystems’ XMetal. These systems are also associated with content management systems that store and retrieve XML fragments for use in a variety of documents. They have a corresponding price-tag.

Click here to read an excellent synopsis of the available XML editors. One of the better ones is oXygen, a very powerful editor with lots of useful features and good support. And don’t forget that Adobe FrameMaker (in which we specialise) makes an excellent XML editor!

XML in Technical Writing

An XML file is a text file. As such, it separates the content of your document from its presentation (formatting). Formatting is controlled by one or more stylesheets (CSS or XSL) that are applied to the XML. By using different stylesheets you can use the same text in different places, and present it in different ways.

The advantages of XML for Technical Writing are obvious:

XML Schemas

XML imposes a standard structure upon a document. Just what that structure can be is determined by an external reference document against which the XML document is validated. The external reference document can be either a Document Type Definition (DTD) document or an XML Schema. Most XML applications use schemas for validation, but in technical writing it is more common to use a DTD.

There are several industry standard DTDs which have been developed and enhanced over the years. The DocBook DTD is widely used for all kinds of writing. In the last few years the DITA DTD has been gaining in popularity among technical writers. It classifies text into four topic types: “task”, “concept”, “reference”, and a generic “topic” type.

At Jade Writing we are familiar with both DocBook and DITA and have used both to create technical documentation.