THDL Toolbox > Developers' Zone > Web-Development > Creating an XML Document
Contributor(s): David Germano, Nathaniel Grove.
This site documents the styles and markup practices for creating essays or any other text-intensive resources within THDL using XML technology. Because of the nature of the technology and the continuing development of the tools and resources, the details and information in these links will continually be updated as new information/tools becomes available and upon feedback from our editor/users. The processes described here are geared toward THDL collaborators, though the tools are available to all and can be used (with some modification) outside the THDL. However, in such cases, it is up to the individual users to find their own means of XML delivery. At present, this site covers only the creation and editing of the XML. The site does not at present discuss at length the XSLT stylesheets used to display the XML. Our goal is to create a single set of general stylesheets to be used for each type of document (essay, book, Tibetan text, etc.) and to provide a means whereby the document can be simply posted to the site and referred to by a stable URL without the collaborator having to bother with the complicated styling instructions. We have achieved a beta-version of such a mechanism, which is described in the documents below.
XML may seem intimidating, but with a modest effort a scholar can integrate XML textual work into their daily practices. To facilitate this process, we have created detailed documentation of all aspects of working with XML. These will continue to be updated and other documents added as they become available. These documents provide documentation and links to resources for the creation of various kinds of XML documents.
- Configuring Your Computer
- Next, before one begins to create XML documents, we recommend reading through Creating an XML Essay for THDL, which guides one through the process from the beginning to end.
- Then About XML editing software on XML Editors provides an introduction to free and commercial editors you could obtain for actually using XML.
- XML Markup Manual for THDL provides a detailed list of tags used in THDL's XML work for easy reference.
- Finally, for those not yet ready to use XML directly, but willing to modify their use of Microsoft Word for easy conversion into XML, we provide Using Microsoft Word Styles to Create an XML document and Using Tibetan Word Styles.
These documents concern the creation of various types of XML documents within the THDL. Each type of document - essay, monograph, Tibetan text - has different requirements in terms of the kind of information being recorded and how it is displayed. Therefore, each type of document requires different processing and different stylesheets. The first document, How to create an XML essay for the THDL, provides the most comprehensive description of the process for the newcomer. The other documents then provide specialized information for adapting that process to work with specific types of texts and goals.
- Creating an XML Essay for THDL
- How to create an XML monograph (Not yet available).
- How to create an XML Tibetan text (Not yet available).
The documents in this section are generic documents outlining information and tools that apply to all types of XML documents, whether essays, monographs, or Tibetan texts. They thus deal with the general use of XML, such as presenting various editors to use for inputting and revising XML documents, and a description of our mark-up scheme. They also outline a process by which a document can be first created in Microsoft Word through the use of styles, and then converted into XML using a special THDL program.
- XML Editors
- THDL's XML markup scheme
- Using Word styles to create an XML document
- Using Tibetan Word Styles