Re: Editing conventions [sgml, XML ! ]

[Daniel Say say@xxxxxxxx]

" From time to time I've dipped into tech writing, which is
" how I came upon SGML, some
" years back in a conference -- right before the advent of the www.
"
" Rafe
"
------------
	and SGML is soon to be replaced by XML.

	Will XY5=Smartwords automatically convert to and fro
	to XML?


  April 14, 1997 10:00 AM ET
  Markup language takes HTML to task
  By Michael Moeller in San Francisco
 
   A new Web page markup language that strips down SGML and picks up
  where HTML falls short is gaining momentum among software
  developers--and it may even bring Microsoft Corp. and Netscape
  Communications Corp. to the same standards table.
 
  A working group of the World Wide Web Consortium last week posted the
  first draft specification for building complex hyperlinks in XML
  (eXtensible Markup Language). The new linking technology would enable
  a single XML hyperlink to point to multiple destinations.
 
  XML is nearly finished after a year of work by W3C developers in
  Cambridge, Mass. Like Hypertext Markup Language, XML is born out of
  Standard Generalized Markup Language but is stripped of many of SGML's
  superfluous features.
 
  SGML was created to render arbitrary data structures; XML retains
  SGML's extensible nature but is easier to use because it is built
  strictly for Web data and applications, W3C officials said at the
  group's conference here last week.
 
  In addition, XML goes beyond HTML by enabling complex, one-to-many
  hyperlinking and the creation of larger, more structured documents
  through the use of finer-grain "tags" or identifiers. HTML tags are
  more generic and easier to use, but less capable of segmenting large
  documents.
 
  XML enables users to create custom tags--something HTML does not
  allow--and separates content from presentation formats, enabling XML
  Web pages to be repackaged for use on non-PC devices such as smart
  phones or personal digital assistants.
 
  The potential of XML has caught the attention of Barbara Heninger, a
  technical publications manager in the IS group at Cadence Design
  Systems Inc., in San Jose, Calif. "We have 220 manuals and need to
  provide our users with the ability to search and find information in
  them that they need quickly," said Heninger. "XML enables me to add
  intelligence to my documents that I cannot get with HTML."
 
  The language also is gaining momentum among ISVs. Microsoft officials
  are promising full support for XML beginning with the third preview
  release of Internet Explorer 4.0, due by early summer. Microsoft's
  interest in XML is its ability to support Channel Definition Format, a
  standard proposed by the Redmond, Wash., company for pushing content
  to its Active Desktop.
 
  Netscape is looking to support XML but, unlike Microsoft, has not
  fully committed to it. Officials at the Mountain View, Calif., company
  said XML is a technology that is being closely watched and could be
  very useful for solving specific needs.
 
  Adobe Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., Novell Inc. and
  Hewlett-Packard Co. also have endorsed XML, but they have not
  specified product plans.
 

Subject: XML .. le futur de SGML ........


http://www.lmi.fr/lmi/lmihome.html

Le Monde Informatique
=20
                n=B0711 - 28 f=E9vrier 1997=20

 INTERNET
 XML: un pas en avant
 pour l=E9dition sur le Web!=20
 Dans une dizaine de jours se tiendra la premi=E8re
 conf=E9rence d=E9di=E9e au futur standard XML
 (Extensible Markup Language) =E0 San Diego, aux
 Etats-Unis. Entre SGML (Standard Generalized
 Markup Language, ISO 8879), omnipr=E9sent
 dans le monde de lEDI, et HTML, le langage
 actuel de description des pages Web, XML
 propose une approche simplifi=E9e et ouverte,
 facilitant la publication de documents complexes
 sur le Web.
 =ABXML appara=EEt comme une solution
 pragmatique et intelligente pour d=E9passer le d=E9bat actuel HTML/SGML. L=
e but
 dXML est de permettre de diffuser, de recevoir et de traiter du SGML=20
g=E9n=E9rique sur
 le Web, =E0 la mani=E8re de ce que lon fait actuellement en HTML=BB, expli=
que=20
Fran=E7ois
 Chahuneau, directeur g=E9n=E9ral dAIS, filiale dinformatique =E9ditoriale =
du=20
groupe
 Berger-Levrault, et sp=E9cialiste de SGML depuis 1988. Pour ajouter: =ABHT=
ML=20
et SGML
 repr=E9sentent lun et lautre des solutions imparfaites pour l=E9change=20
dinformation
 documentaire structur=E9e sur lInternet ou dans les intranets=BB.
 R=E9sultat des travaux du consortium W3C, le projet de standard XML a =E9t=
=E9=20
d=E9voil=E9 pour la
 premi=E8re fois en novembre dernier, lors de la conf=E9rence SGML, =E0 Bos=
ton.=20
Le groupe de
 travail qui, lui, est d=E9di=E9 au W3C (compos=E9 notamment dexperts SGML)=
 a=20
pr=E9vu trois
 =E9tapes. La premi=E8re concerne la publication de la version XML 1.0=20
adapt=E9e aux
 applications Web. Celle-ci sera compl=E9t=E9e lors dune deuxi=E8me phase p=
ar=20
un ensemble de
 sp=E9cifications des liens hypertextes dapplications SGML sur Internet.=20
Ces m=E9thodes
 dassociation de liens plus complexes devraient =EAtre d=E9voil=E9es lors d=
e la=20
sixi=E8me conf=E9rence
 du World Wide Web en avril prochain. Enfin, la troisi=E8me =E9tape=20
consistera =E0 int=E9grer =E0
 XML les feuilles de style adapt=E9es aux navigateurs du march=E9. Le futur=
=20
standard XML
 appara=EEt comme le meilleur compromis entre la norme g=E9n=E9rique SGML,=
=20
vieille de dix ans,
 et consid=E9r=E9e par la communaut=E9 Internet comme trop lourde et comple=
xe =E0=20
g=E9rer, et les
 limites de codage HTML.=20
            Ouverture et syntaxe simplifi=E9e
 XML, tout comme SGML, est un langage de description de balisage de=20
diff=E9rents types de
 documents. Mais b=E9n=E9ficiant dune syntaxe simplifi=E9e, la sp=E9cificat=
ion=20
XML tient en 26
 pages (au lieu de 500 pour la norme SGML). Elle prend en compte le code=20
Ascii (8 bits) et
 le jeu de caract=E8res Unicode (ISO 10646) ainsi que la structure=20
existante dun document. A
 linverse de HTML qui ne propose que des balises fixes, XML est ouvert et=
=20
permet de
 d=E9finir ses propres balises (tags) et ses propres formats. Cela=20
repr=E9sente un grand pas en
 avant pour l=E9dition sur le Web. Finies les lourdes t=E2ches de=20
transformation de documents au
 format ferm=E9 HTML ou de d=E9veloppement doutils de navigation d=E9di=E9s=
 aux=20
documents non
 HTML! Avec XML, un plus large =E9ventail de documents et de bases de=20
donn=E9es pourra
 =EAtre pris en compte par les applications g=E9n=E9riques du Web. A signal=
er=20
que les documents
 conformes =E0 HTML 3.2 seront facilement convertibles en XML.
 Le succ=E8s de cette nouvelle sp=E9cification d=E9pendra bien s=FBr de son=
=20
adoption par les
 fournisseurs doutils Web. Microsoft la compris et travaille aujourdhui =E0=
=20
lint=E9gration
 dXML dans sa version Internet Explorer 4.0. De son c=F4t=E9, Netscape na=
=20
pour lheure
 communiqu=E9 aucune intention de supporter le futur standard.=20
                            CLARISSE BURGER=20