Hi Austin you wrote, >I'm assuming any publishing. Web, paper, audio, etc. In fact, the more >media formats you publishg to, the MORE important it is to retain only >structural markup and not stylistic markup.
You also wrote: >I thought I made that clear. If your requirement is for only one delivery >platform/format, than my points are all moot. Then you wrote: >However, if at any point the content may be repurposed for a different >format, then arbitrary style markup for one medium gets in the way. I complete - So according to you better do it now then later right :) This is the catch isn't it? Austin I must say that unfortunately it is my view that you have no idea what you are talking about from the practical point of view and the underlying costs. Or if you are (as you intend to pass that idea) you are just pitching a Nirvana that in the end your followers (customers) will pay for it in ways they are not expecting (lots of $$$$)(Give me the money and I'll make you dreams come true). This is not to say that certain Unstructured Information types (some documents that usually follow policies of a company) can't be structured into a Semi-Structured form ready to be displayed in multiple devices more effectively. But you have to make loads of compromises and invest heavily in order not to have headaches and go home rested (from content creation to design freedom) depending on your business environment and objective. For instance a proper XML Editor that does what as been preached here is XMetal (go and look for its price, some people say it is horrible too). Note that all content contributors must use it within your company otherwise the purpose would be defeated easily (then more costs). Assuming that any Semi-Structured Content can be displayed in any device in its full extent (witch it is not true but that is another issue) 1) The point is what are those compromises? 2) How do compromises affect existing productivity of individual workers(designer, authors, managers, readers, etc)? 3) Can you really leverage on the CMS ability to display information in multiple devices terms of cost savings compared to your current practices? Note that you can lower costs significantly if you know a priori know what devices you want to publish to. For instance if you want to publish to PDA's, WebTV, Web Browsers, Some I-Mode phones, and Email most probably you just need to use HTML as a format (there are loads of editors out there to do it, and with some discipline one can us CSS effectively to restyle the content). The problem comes within the realm of other devices such as Paper, Audio, etc. And to tell the truth within this realm most organizations do not have the money to build the technical infrastructure necessary today. Even the bigger ones have avoided it due to several reasons not concerned only with cost and investment. Best regards, Nuno Lopes Independent Consultant. PS: I'm really sorry for this not so political email but this is what I felt compelled to say. -- http://cms-list.org/ trim your replies for good karma.
