What is XML for Authors
On the one hand, XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a text format for storing structured content that allows you to simplify, reduce the cost of and automate to the maximum the creation and maintenance of various documents.
On the other hand, XML is a set of technologies and methods aimed at the modernization of the authoring process in all spheres of activities.
In particular, XML perfectly serves the purpose of improving documentation quality, making life easier for technical writers, and increasing productivity.
Divide and Rule
When you deal with large and difficult tasks such as corporate documentation, it is reasonable to split it into smaller parts to be treated separately.
Smaller parts are not only easier to handle but can also be translated into various languages separately, distributed between different authors and reused in other documents.
XML is an open format supported by many software manufacturers, which allows you to freely share XML documents between different applications.
Work with Smaller Chunks
Modern XML formats such as DITA allow you to split very large XML documents into small topics to be authored by different people simultaneously.
The topic-oriented concept not only helps to reuse content and thus to minimize its redundancy but also simplifies the maintenance of localized XML documents, which is so important in global enterprises.
Spend No Time on Presentation
When working with structured XML content, authors don't deal with its look and feel. This fact significantly accelerates the creation of XML documents as the arrangement of document presentation may take time comparable with or even exceeding authoring time. Those who at least once dealt with office applications have first-hand experience of this.
In XML technology, the document presentation is kept separate from the document in a file (or several files) called a document stylesheet. Stylesheets for the most popular XML formats are widely available, for example, they come with Syntext Serna XML editor.
When the presentation is kept apart from the content, it becomes possible to automatically deliver profiled content in multiple formats (PDF, HTML) through many channels (Web, CD/DVD, or printed copy).
