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diff --git a/info/digests/texline/no7/joan.tex b/info/digests/texline/no7/joan.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..f34c720d5f --- /dev/null +++ b/info/digests/texline/no7/joan.tex @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +\centerline{\bf SGML Users' Group Meeting} +\medskip +\noindent +A meeting of the {\sc sgml} Users' Group took +place at the British Standards Institution in London time +on January 11th, 1988. It was informative with software demonstrations +taking place at the back of the room in the break periods. + +{\sc sobemap} products were presented by Joan Smith and +Jean-Pierre Gaspart, introducing new releases of the +full features parser, as well as new products +destined to enter the marketplace. Among these were +an interactive editor intended as an authoring tool, +a formatter, and a graphical editor. This last product would enable document +type definitions ({\sc dtd}s) to be represented graphically, +and also {\sc sgml} databases. In this way hypertext +applications would become possible. If you have an {\sc ibm} +or compatible pc, and are at a university (or other educational +institution), {\sc sobemap} will make the parser +available free of charge for teaching or basic research. +More details of this offer are given in the next article. + + +Martin Bryan of Quorum followed with +a very practical look at {\sc sgml} from typesetting markup +through to {\sc sgml} itself, listing +the advantages of going to {\sc sgml}. His advice was to +take a simple +starting point, using no more than twenty tags to markup a manual, treating +tables, figures, and other exotic elements as externals. +The main advantage of {\sc sgml} was its rigour, checking the document +against its previously formulated description. + +Elsevier is already taking the {\sc sgml} route. Jan Bleeker +described a study carried out prior to their +adoption of the standard. A start has been made with bibliographic data and +abstracts, and there are plans for electronic document delivery and +making the publication process electronic, in addition to the +availability of information through a database host for the provision of secondary +services. + +A parser under consideration by Elsevier was that developed at the +Free University of Amsterdam. The author of this, Jos Warmer, spoke +of its capabilities --- it is for basic {\sc sgml} and has been tailored +to the Elsevier {\sc dtd}. Next on his wish list is an interactive +editor, within a two-year timescale. + +Mike Cowlishaw of {\sc ibm} rounded off the day with a very professional +presentation of {\sc lexx}, the structured editor developed whilst +he was seconded to the New Oxford English Dictionary project. The +examples were illustrated in glorious technicolour as +he gave a slide show on the capabilities of the editor. The snag is +that you need a blue mainframe for this product. + +The next meeting of the Group is April 11th, again +at the {\sc bsi} in London. All are welcome. + +\rightline{\sl Joan Smith} + |