Issue 2 - November 2008
XML Authoring - Interview with Michael Boses
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This month we feature an interview with Michael Boses about his new role with Quark, the need for user-friendly content-authoring tools, and the role of structured content in the dynamic-publishing paradigm.
Interview by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler.
TCW: Michael, congratulations on joining the Quark® team! I’m excited that the In.vision line of products — especially Xpress Author for Microsoft® Word — is now under the Quark umbrella. I’m certain that this move is a good one. But before we chat about that, let’s start with a brief introduction. Tell us a little about you and how you found your way to Quark.
MB: I think it was kind of inevitable, Scott. Both Quark and In.vision have been focused on creating document technologies that meet the needs of the 21st century. Quark was one of the original innovators in desktop publishing, enabling documents to be produced digitally, and more recently targeted their incredible capabilities toward dynamic publishing. In.vision was on the other end of the document-creation spectrum, helping people use Microsoft Word to create new types of narrative or textual content. It’s a natural process for content that was created in Microsoft Word to be drawn toward QuarkXPress for layout in finished publications — and that is a perfect metaphor for how the two companies were drawn together to create an end-to-end solution for dynamic publishing.
TCW: What technologies did In.vision bring to Quark, and how do they fit into your overall product offering?
MB: The In.vision product set focuses on XML authoring — but with a very different approach than other XML tools. As you know, Scott, XML documents offer tremendous value for an organization because XML creates "intelligent documents” that are more easily searched, can be integrated with enterprise business processes, and — most important for us — support dynamic publishing. While this sounds fantastic, there is a hitch: XML is a very technical successor to HTML, and most business people don’t even know what it is, let alone have the technical interest (or time) to learn how to use it. In 1998, we realized that authors needed a way to create content right in Microsoft Word, using any XML standard without learning anything about XML. A lot of people said it was an impossible goal, including some of the leaders in the XML community.
Well it wasn’t impossible, but it did take a lot of work. In 2002, we released the first version of Xpress Author for Microsoft Word, and it changed the XML authoring industry. This enabled an organization to have hundreds or even thousands of users create XML documents without disrupting their business processes.
All of the In.vision products either enhance the ability to create documents in this way or connect the author to network resources such as content management systems or databases that allow content to be streamed into documents — a powerful XML capability that can make authors much more productive. Two of the great things about Quark and In.vision are that there was no overlap in the product sets and all of our products are complementary.
TCW: You mentioned dynamic publishing, and as many folks know, I am a strong proponent of it, especially when it leads to a steep reduction in content-development and management costs while simultaneously improving customer service. However, I’ve found there are a lot of misperceptions surrounding the term "dynamic publishing.” What does dynamic publishing mean, exactly?
MB: Well, Scott, before defining "dynamic publishing,” I think it’s important to point out some pressures or dynamics — pardon the pun — that have given rise to the dynamic-publishing paradigm. For example, over the past decade the Internet has fundamentally changed the way people find information. Whereas we used to rely on books, magazines, periodicals, and other printed materials for information, we now start our search on the Web and then reference printed materials for more detailed information. The prevalence of mobile devices and their ability to deliver information to the palms of our hands also has changed our expectations about the immediacy in which we receive information. As a result, people expect to get information fast, they want it to be relevant or customized to them and their interests, and in many cases they want to be part of the communication process.
These demands have put pressure on traditional print paradigms and evolved into today’s dynamic-publishing approach, which is characterized by the rapid delivery of customized information in multiple formats. In other words, dynamic publishing is a different way to create and share information. Its basic premise is built on the creation of reusable components of information that you can easily combine for different uses — different types of documents and different audiences. Dynamic publishing also automates the page-formatting process, so you can automatically produce print, Web, and electronic content from a single source of information.
