Details:
Summary:
The content information for print or web documents never comes from one source but from various systems, often from web sites. Particularly reusable content elements may be coded as XML documents, recom-mended by the W3 Consortium. Like web publishing, cross-media publishers need universal middleware between content providers, content processing and design (prepress or web authoring), and print or web delivery. Print media are mostly output through offset and gravure technologies, or through digital printing lines (e.g. on-demand, short-run and variable data). Mass printing requires press frontend servers in which the page files are assembled into press-sheet-wide impofiles, prepared, checked, proofed and trapped for film, plate or direct-to-press output. File preparation for print is largely manual session-to-session batch processing with large files. The XML (extensible markup language) and the RDF (resource definition framework) offer universal object formats, extended linking, resource marshalling, logical and dynamic documents for workflow automation, and for content and document data management. Here, we report on the progress of the XML applications - both existing and concepts - for print and cross-media publishing, and for related print brokering and production. We analyse the performance and integration between XML and other solutions,. e.g. native formats, PDF , SGML and HTML. We propose how to integrate and connect systems to the different native formats, existing DTP systems and applications, press frontends, workflow and middleware solutions, and how to use XML and related standards to build intelligent web applications for publishing.