Document Structure Independent Data Modelling   Table of contents   Indexes   Croner &, Croner &, SGML — the first 3 years: opening the envelope!
  Price  Lynne A. 
 

The Pros and Cons of Industry-Standard DTDs

 The termindustry-standard DTD refers to a DTD, designed by participants from several unrelated companies or other organizations, for use with documents on similar topics produced by these organizations. Despite the word "standard," industry-standard DTDs are not necessarily produced by recognized standards authorities. Often, they are intended for interchanging documents rather than for creating new ones. This panel brings together two groups of users of such DTDs—end users and vendors (or SGML service providers)—for a discussion of practical issues in the implementation of SGML projects based on such DTDs. The discussion will raise issues such as the following:
 
  • Panelists will comment on lessons learned from use of an industry-standard DTD. Has the DTD improved results or the process of producing them? Will they use the DTD differently in future products?
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  • Do end users create documents directly with the industry-standard DTD? Do service providers recommend authoring with the industry-standard DTD? If not, how do authoring and interchange DTDs differ? Do end users implement only a subset of the industry-standard DTD? Do they extend the industry-standard DTD (and, if so, in what ways)?
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  • Have panelists exchanged documents with other organizations? How successfully? With whom? How does the recipient use the interchanged documents?
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  • When a DTD is so large that an organization only uses part of it, what does interchange mean? Do different organizations interpret elements (or attributes) differently? Does any organization implement the entire DTD? How accepted is it to use a different DTD for editing and the industry-standard one for "interchange"? If it is accepted, to whom are documents using the interchange DTD sent, and what does the receiver do with incoming documents?
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  • Do end users always accept the recommendations of service providers?
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  • Are DTDs intended for one industry useful for others? Can they serve simply as extended examples of SGML?
    •  Additional questions from the audience will be welcomed.
    Document Structure Independent Data Modelling   Table of contents   Indexes   Croner &, Croner &, SGML — the first 3 years: opening the envelope!