RE: RE: Interviewing "under the hood"?

[Sean Brierley <seanb_us -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Actually, I think you are mis-defining true single
sourcing.

True single sourcing does not have to be XML,
database, or even open source.

I single source using proprietary tools and binaries.
FM and WWP Pro. My deliverables differ in both content
and formatting and I didn't even pay an arm and a leg
for the tools nor the expertise to run them. Content
can be tagged or identified without necessarily
requiring it to be in a database.

Now, about the use everywhere thing. Try getting XML
into PowerPoint. I have PowerPoint 2002. It's a dead
end for content--tought to get in or out. However,
consider my approach to presentations, wherein I
create PDF presentations that uses content that is
used elsewhere . . ..

The promise of XML-based single sourcing for the
masses continues to be just that--a promise--as it has
for more than 5 years now. I'll admit, it's closer.
With the promise of proprietary XML from the next
version of MS Office, it'll get closer. If you have a
bunch of money, maybe Miramo or Patternstream can get
you there today. Or, there's the likes of DocFrame.
But, if print is important to you . . . therein is the
rub.

And, I'd be wary of expecting PageMaker to readily
handle XML before the application gets officially
mothballed.

Cheers,

Sean


--- Dick Margulis  <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> wrote:
> Sean,
> 
> Suppose you want to do true single-sourcing. A group
> of people contribute content on a variety of topics.
> The content is tagged as to type (not Is this a
> bullet item? but Is this a feature name?). The
> content is then available for any number of uses--a
> sales presentation in PowerPoint, a functional spec
> in Word, a trade show poster in Illustrator,
> marketing collateral in PageMaker--and when the
> original content changes (because the actual product
> features change), all those outputs can be updated
> automatically. That, as I see it, is the promise of
> single-sourcing and the promise of XML. I can look
> at a feature name in a PageMaker template and treat
> it as a bullet item. I can look at it in PowerPoint
> and treat it as a new slide title. I can look at it
> in an Illustrator file and pull in a graphic icon
> that is tagged to go with that item. (This is all
> hypothetical, of course; I don't think those
> particular programs could be easily coaxed to do any
> of these things.)
> 
> So that's the promise of what XML-type markup can
> eventually do for us. 

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