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Subject:Re: single source print+html From:Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 5 Oct 1998 10:35:02 -0400
Ned Bedinger wrote
>I'm canvassing for rumors/experiences/opinions/truths about single-source
>formatted documents and html. This like some search for the holy grail,
>where the grail is WYSIWYG print/html single source authoring environment.
A WYSIWYG single source authoring environment is not the holy grail, it's a
contradiction in terms. When we say single source, what we really mean is
single source multiple output. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) is
inherently a single source single output system since you are literally
painting the output as you create the source.
The best you can hope for with WYSIWYG is to do an after the fact
down-translation to another media format. It is a down translation because,
unless the author intervenes, which would disqualify the process from being
called single source, the target output can only contain a subset of the
structure and formatting available in the original.
Down-translating from paper to HTML was marginally acceptable a year ago. I
think it is largely unacceptable for many applications today. As our
understanding and appreciation of the web as a media matures, and people's
expectations rise, it will not be acceptable at all.
We produce HTML, PDF, PostScript, and WinHelp from a single source. The
source is a media neutral information set maintained in a database. The
outputs are all designed to take full advantage of the structural and
formatting possibilities of their target media. There are no down
translations from one media to another. The editing environment is
graphical, but not WYSIWYG. Far from missing WYSIWYG, most of the people who
use the system never want to go back to WYSIWYG again. Productivity is high
and, since all outputs are built automatically, we can edit up to the day
before product release.
Remember that our addiction to WYSIWYG is of very recent origin. It is a
product of the desktop publishing revolution, which essentially consisted of
building an analog of a mechanical paste-up system into an editing program.
This marrying of source and output has several advantages for single media
publishing, but it is a very confining model for our present situation which
demands multiple media delivery for so many forms of information.
Media neutrality, not WYSIWYG, is the grail of the single source
documentation.
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Corporate Communications
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
