XML and Unicode: Implications for Global Publishing <line>XML and Unicode: Implications for Global Publishing</line> Thirteenth International Unicode Conference San Jose, September 1998 Jon Bosak Sun Microsystems XML Basics <line>XML Basics</line> What is XML?

Extensible Markup Language

An activity of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) organized by Sun to put SGML on the World Wide Web

Will create new data-centric Web applications

Database exchange

Distribution of processing to clients

Client-side manipulation of views into the data

Customization of information by intelligent agents

Management of document collections

Will fundamentally change publishing on the web and then publishing in general

 Who developed XML?

The XML specification was developed from 1996 through 1998 by a wide-ranging group of markup language experts from industry and academia.

Computer industry: Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Netscape, Adobe, Fuji Xerox

SGML vendors and system integrators: ArborText, Inso, SoftQuad, Grif, Isogen, Texcel

Academic and research community: Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), NCSA, James Clark

Early adopters: DataChannel, Vignette

Recent additions (after XML 1.0): IBM, Oracle, Omnimark, Lotus, Xerox, SAP, Merrill Lynch, ...

 Where is XML going?

It is now generally agreed that Web content will be managed using standards based on XML.

Key predictions for the future:

XML will certainly be the basis on which future Web standards are built.

XML will probably become the universal serial format for structured data.

XML will almost certainly become the basis for international publishing.

XML may replace all existing word processing and desktop publishing formats.

 The XML concept [Presentation generated from content+structure]

XML allows you to specify the content and structure of a document in a way that lets you generate particular presentations as needed.

 Proof of concept: this presentation

(These are links in the online version.)

The XML source from which this presentation was produced

The optional XML DTD used to validate the XML source

The DSSSL style sheet for the HTML used in the online version

The DSSSL style sheet for the RTF used in the printed version

The Jade DSSSL engine used to produce both the HTML and RTF files

A PostScript version of this presentation produced from Jade's RTF output

 Why take this approach?

Separating content and structure from presentation and behavior makes possible

Reusable information

Media-independent publishing

One-on-one marketing

Intelligent downstream document processing

Large-scale information management

 XML Internationalization <line>XML Internationalization</line> XML and Unicode

XML has been based on Unicode from Day One

There is nothing in an XML file but Unicode characters

Unicode is used for both content and markup (can mix languages, even in tag names)

XML tools must support both UTF-8 and UTF-16

The widespread adoption of XML for data management and electronic commerce will probably make Unicode support universal

 Unicode example: an international bookstore [Japanese book catalog] With stylesheet for reader of Japanese [Catalog rendered for reader of Japanese] With stylesheet for reader of English [Catalog rendered for reader of English] Source files for the bookstore example

(These are links in the online version.)

The UTF-16 XML source from which the different versions were produced

The UTF-16 DSSSL style sheet used to produce the version for the reader of Japanese

The UTF-16 DSSSL style sheet used to produce the version for the reader of English

The Jade DSSSL engine used to produce RTF files from the source and the style sheets

The UTF-16 RTF file for the reader of Japanese (font association done in Word 7)

The UTF-16 RTF file for the reader of English (font association done in Word 7)

 Lessons from the example

The catalog example shows that the distinction between data exchange and publishing is ultimately an artificial one (the same source would also be used to create the printed catalog)

The rendition in each case occurs on the web client

The database owner can publish a single data stream to the entire world

Consider the alternative:

Generation of a different HTML output stream for every possible user and target platform

Much greater load on the server

No user autonomy

 XML and Standardization <line>XML and Standardization</line> The XML accomplishment

XML is a big open-standards victory for users.

Freely extensible

No tag name limitations

No language limitations

Human-readable

Can maintain data using basic text tools like sed, awk, perl, Word macros

Open standard

In theory, XML users can't be held hostage to vendor control

Easy to implement

There will be many powerful, cheap, off-the-shelf commercial XML tools

There is already an ever-growing set of free XML tools (almost all of them Java-based)

 Current W3C XML work

Work on the XML family of standards is taking place in six different W3C working groups:

XML Linking WG: Developing next-generation hypertext mechanisms

XML Schema WG: Developing a DTD alternative that will support inheritance and data typing

XML Fragments WG: Developing a method for transmitting XML fragments

XML Information Set WG: Defining the XML objects that are available to applications

XML Syntax WG: Investigating XML simplification and style sheet linking

XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) WG: Developing an industrial-strength internationalized stylesheet language for XML uses on and off the Web

 XML and Global Publishing <line>XML and Global Publishing</line> Beyond a narrow interpretation of XML

XML is not just about exchanging data between machines

It's also about communication between humans

XML is not just about the web

It's about information in general

XML is not just about technology

It's also about the relationship between content creators and software vendors

 XML inherits the social agenda of SGML

The social agenda of SGML has always been about freedom from third-party control of content.

Freedom from proprietary data formats

Vendor neutrality

Platform neutrality

Language neutrality

Its foundation on Unicode adds practical internationalization to the implicit social agenda.

 Next phase of the revolution: XSL

Large-scale cross-platform XML publishing demands that XML deliver on the display-oriented promises:

User-configurable views

More powerful display-centric client-side applications

Media-independent publishing

In particular, printed and online deliverables from the same source

Asian-language rendering support

XSL is intended to complete the internationalized media-independent publishing story.

 Implications of XML+XSL for I18N

Properly done (like DSSSL), XSL enables XML to serve as an international publishing format

XML+XSL could allow the whole operation to be based end-to-end on a uniformly processible Unicode text stream

Data

Stylesheets

Formatting objects

Instructions to the formatter

A mass transition to XML+XSL will change the whole translation business

Data human-readable and freely interchangeable

Tools cheap and freely interoperable

Qualified personnel available everywhere

A common infrastructure

 The larger implications of XML+XSL

The combination of XML and XSL can replace all existing word-processing and publishing formats.

A single format for both print and online publishing

A single format across different products

A single format for all languages

What does this mean?

Users no longer tied to a proprietary format

A change in the relationship between software vendors and customers

An end to control of the market by a few big companies

An end to control of the market by a few big countries

 What can go wrong?

The complete implementation of XML and XSL means an end to control of users through proprietary formats.

Companies that have built their business models on proprietary formats can be expected to resist this.

The most obvious ways to subvert the user-empowerment agenda of XML are:

Vendor control of standard schemas

Incomplete Unicode and XSL support

 Getting to global publishing

Beware of strategies that limit XML to the role of middleware; it's more than that

Support the vendor-independent development of standard schemas (DTDs) and namespaces

Beware of sleazy dodges: nonstandard extensions, incomplete UTF-8/UTF-16 support

Insist on real XSL support: the ability to render formatting objects, not just HTML tags

W3C members: work within W3C to make sure that the requirements for international publishing are met

Support platform-independent tools vendors

Support the only organization dedicated to interoperable document standards in general: OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org)

 The payoff for XML and Unicode

Interoperability of both content and style

Freedom from vendor control of our data

Creator control of markup depth

User control of views into the data

A level playing field for independent software developers

A common infrastructure for translation

True international publishing across all media