[austechwriter] Move to XML

From: "Andrea Tappe" <A.Tappe@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Austechwriter Group (E-mail)" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 09:08:43 +1000
Hi Melanie,

The purpose of the switch to XML is to facilitate content reuse and =
translation into other languages. And you are correct about Microsoft =
XML not complying with the W3C standard. When we first came up with this =
idea, I sat down with our system architect and we tried to rough out a =
document schema. Three hours later, we didn't have anything that =
validated - we'd pulled samples off various websites, they didn't =
validate either, we were convinced that we were the biggest pair of =
Noddies in the known world. Next week, a new contractor started - in a =
casual conversation, he mentioned that he'd heard that Microsoft XML is =
non-compliant - I trawled the web, and sure enough ..................... =
unfortunately, although I found lots of posts dissing Microsoft, I =
didn't find any which told me how to work with 'their special version' =
of XML.=20

Michael, this was actually originally my idea - we have a lot of very =
similar content and pretty much since day one, I've been hinting broadly =
that we could make it identical content, mark it up with suitable XML =
tags, then reuse it as appropriate. This was particularly an issue when =
the manuals, the website and the marketing stuff were handled by three =
different people - someone would tell the webmaster to make a change, =
then forget to tell me or vice versa. It took about 8 person hours to =
make even relatively small changes (e.g. update products specs to remove =
references to Windows 95) because all the content was in different =
places in different formats - it was a waste of everyone's time and the =
bane of my existence!

Under these circumstances, I was a very vocal exponent of XML. However, =
I thought that I'd get a 'proper' editing tool, such as XMLSpy (which is =
quite good, once you get over the seven window thing). If I'd thought =
there was any chance that I'd end up using Word, I would have been =
mousy, mousy quiet.........

Thanks and regards

Andrea Tappe

Technical Writer/Webmaster
QSR International Pty Ltd

613 9840 4939 (ph)
613 9840 1500 (fax)

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[austechwriter] Move to XML

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