SoftQuad Author/Editor 3.1

In addition to HotMetal Pro, its HTML editor, SoftQuad has a number of Mac SGML products. Author/Editor 3.1 is the first and most full-featured SGML editor for the Mac. Unlike many other SGML products, which reveal their Windows or UNIX origins by their non-standard interfaces, Author/Editor has a Mac-like feel that you can learn easily. Any complexities that you encounter are likely due to the program’s full set of advanced SGML capabilities. If you’re familiar with SGML, however, or are working with someone who is, Author/Editor is a good choice for data entry. It is best suited for entering a document from scratch, rather than fine-tuning a partially marked up document.

Author/Editor enables authors to submit manuscripts to their publishers in SGML. This enables authors to concentrate on authoring and publishers to concentrate on typesetting and publishing. This program shelters you from many of the difficulties of SGML, protects you from making SGML errors, and leads you through the process of creating a document. However, you are restricted to working with correct documents. This can make it difficult to work with partially correct SGML or to modify a DTD during the authoring process.

Author/Editor reads a compiled DTD. It helps you write correct SGML by permitting you to insert elements and attributes only in their correct contexts. Author/Editor has formatting, editing, and SGML capabilities. It comes with good documentation and a series of tutorials.

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Note:  
Author/Editor is a conforming SGML system. This means that its SGML parser conforms to ISO 8879, the SGML standard, and that its output is acceptable to the Department of Defense and other contractors who require strict conformance. It can handle markup minimization, and it enables you to change many of the parameters in the SGML declaration.

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Author/Editor 3.1 requires System 7 and a minimum of 6M of RAM. It is copy protected. After you install it, you must run a special program to activate it, which requires a serial number. Author/Editor files, like most word processing files, are not text files. They are binary files, which means that you can read them only with Author/Editor. To share your SGML files with people who use different SGML software, you must export the file from Author/Editor so that it becomes a standard, text-only SGML file. While it is an extra step, exporting is as simple as choosing the Export to SGML option from the File menu.

Formatting and Views. Author/Editor displays a text file either with or without tags. When tags are displayed, they appear as icons in the text, as shown in figure 27.1. You can apply formatting styles to each element, which makes it easier to read and edit the document, even when tags are not displayed. The Styles feature makes data entry easier by using colors or text styles to indicate different elements. Author/Editor also provides two other views of an SGML document: the structure view and the context view.

Fig. 27.1  Author/Editor shows tags as icons in a document.

Author/Editor’s structure view displays the document as an indented SGML tree, similar to the outliners in many word processors, as shown in figure 27.2. You use this display for navigation. It provides a useful structural overview of the text. As with an outliner, you can click elements to expand or hide their contents. You can use this feature to locate places in your document where the SGML is correct, but where the tagging is inappropriate. It can help you find missing tags that are required. This enables you, for example, to scan quickly to ensure that every chapter element has a title element.

Fig. 27.2  You can navigate an Author/Editor document by using an outline view.

The context view shows all the elements that contain the current element (see fig. 27.3). If you move the cursor, the current element changes. You can get useful information for determining whether part of a document has been tagged correctly. This can be a lifesaver, especially when a document has a deeply-nested structure. For instance, the context view can help you determine quickly the nested list to which a particular list item belongs.

Fig. 27.3  Use the context window to determine the nesting of an element.

Editing. Editing an SGML document in Author/Editor is easy. You can import a text file and tag it. You can import partially tagged documents and complete their tagging using the program. Likewise, you can type a document in Author/Editor and tag as you write. Author/Editor has menu items and keyboard commands for a variety of SGML-based editing activities. You can:

•  Insert the next allowable element

•  Split an element into two

•  Join adjacent elements with the same tags

•  Surround text with a particular tag

•  Edit attributes

•  Insert entities

You can use each function by using either display. You also can control how strictly Author/Editor follows the DTD. In Rules Checking On mode, you cannot write SGML that does not match the DTD. In Rules Checking Off mode, you can break the structure defined in the DTD restrictions, which is useful for temporary work on documents in progress.

Whenever you are ready, but before you finish, you should validate your document. The validation process runs your document through the Author/Editor SGML parser. It finds and displays even the most minor SGML errors. In particular, it will detect missing elements that are required. This is a task that interactive rules checking cannot do and still allow a reasonable editing process. Verify periodically as you work to check the state of the document. Make sure to run it at least once at the end, of course, so that you can perform any needed final clean up. It helps you tie up all the loose ends and make the document completely legal. Author/Editor also has a graphical table editor, so you can edit tables easily.

SGML Features and Setup. Installing Author/Editor on a Macintosh is easy—simply run the installer. If you’re using one of the common DTDs and ISO entity sets included in Author/Editor, you are ready to work in SGML.

If you want to use your own DTD, however, you must prepare it so that Author/Editor can read it. This step creates a binary file with the information from the DTD. It is equivalent to the process of importing an SGML file. Compile it with SoftQuad’s RulesBuilder, a separate product. Put the resulting binary file in the Rules folder in the Author/Editor folder so that Author/Editor can find it. You do not insert DOCTYPE declarations at the top of your SGML files. When you open or import a new file, a dialog box asks you which DTD you want to use. Your new DTD appears as one of the choices.