Single source docs for multiple media?

["Geoff Hart (by way of \"Eric J. Ray\" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>)" <ght -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Mark Baker makes the excellent point that <<A WYSIWYG single source
authoring environment is not the holy grail, it's a contradiction in
terms.>>

To which I say a hearty amen. Until the standard computer monitor is
at least 8.5X11 inches in portrait mode (vertical) and has 300 dpi
resolution or better, the paper and online media are too different
for a "one size fits all" approach. Even then, what do you do about
tabloid-size documents? Documents that require interactvity?
Different media serve different purposes, and the best you can
generally hope for is to produce something that requires relatively
minimal tweaking to work well in both media.

That being said, I can think of one set of conditions under which
using a single source for multiple outputs is possible without
extensive tweaking: when there is limited requirement for
interactivity, the size of the product is identical in both media,
and the product will fit on a single 14-inch monitor in the desired
orientation, without the need for scrolling. In that case, it should
be feasible to produce a single _Acrobat_ document called from within
HTML and displayed within the browser. (Don't forget, when we
say "must be able to produce HTML", we really mean "must be
capable of being displayed in a Web browser". That means you're
never limited solely to HTML per se!) Within the abovementioned
limits of screen resolution, the same Acrobat file will work equally
well in print and on-screen. Yes, you're sacrificing the additional
functionality of the online medium, but at least it's a decent
compromise.

Mark then continued: <<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.>>

That leads me to a question. It would seem to me that SGML was
intended primarily to solve just this problem. If you define your
content rigorously, then all you should need is an appropriate output
filter for each medium to produce the desired product. The obvious
problem with this simplistic statement is that you can't automate
good design, but I strongly suspect that products whose output
formats are equally structured for the online and print versions
(e.g., fill-in-the-blank forms, database output such as "baseball
cards", etc.) would be quite amenable to single-sourcing.
You'd still need occasional tweaking of the product, but you should
be quite close in many cases. Comments?

For example: <<We produce HTML, PDF, PostScript, and WinHelp from 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.>>

That seems to be exactly what I was getting at, if I'm understanding
you right. Can you provide more details on the product and outputs?
It would make for an enlightening case study if the methods or data
aren't proprietary!

<<[WYSIWYG] 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.>>

There's one very real advantage of WYSIWYG that you haven't
mentioned, and it emerges under the guise of information design. I
work continuously with graphic artists and desktop publishers to take
"single-source text" and readapt it to various media (e.g., from a
report to a slide presentation to a video). There are some undeniable
synergies possible when you work "directly" in the final medium
because you can interactively modify your approach to suit the new
medium. Of course, then you're no longer single-sourcing in the sense
of the original question.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Microsoft Word: It grows on you... but with a little fungicide,
you'll be feeling much better real soon now!"--GH

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