# Getting started with SGML

# The business challenge

With the ever-changing and growing global market, companies and large organizations are searching for ways to become more viable and competitive. Downsizing and other cost-cutting measures demand more efficient use of corporate resources. One very important resource is an organization's information.

As part of the move toward integrated information management, whole industries are developing and implementing standards for exchanging technical information. This report describes how one such standard, the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), works as part of an overall information management strategy.

# Getting to know SGML

While SGML is a fairly recent technology, the use of markup in computer-generated documents has existed for a while.

## What is markup, or everything you always wanted to know about document preparation but were afraid to ask?

Markup is everything in a document that is not content. The traditional meaning of markup is the manual marking up of typewritten text to give instructions for a typesetter or compositor about how to fit the text on a page and what typefaces to use. This kind of markup is known as procedural markup.

### Procedural markup

Most electronic publishing systems today use some form of procedural markup. Procedural markup codes are good for one presentation of the information.

### Generic markup

Generic markup (also known as descriptive markup) describes the purpose of the text in a document. A basic concept of generic markup is that the content of a document must be separate from the style. Generic markup allows for multiple presentations of the information.

### Drawbacks of procedural markup

Industries involved in technical documentation increasingly prefer generic over procedural markup schemes. When a company changes software or hardware systems, enormous data translation tasks arise, often resulting in errors.

## What is SGML in the grand scheme of the universe, anyway?

SGML defines a strict markup scheme with a syntax for defining document data elements and an overall framework for marking up documents.

SGML can describe and create documents that are not dependent on any hardware, software, formatter, or operating system. Since SGML documents conform to an international standard, they are portable.

## How is SGML and would you recommend it to your grandmother?

You can break a typical document into three layers: structure, content, and style. SGML works by separating these three aspects and deals mainly with the relationship between structure and content.

### Structure

At the heart of an SGML application is a file called the DTD, or Document Type Definition. The DTD sets up the structure of a document, much like a database schema describes the types of information it handles.

A database schema also defines the relationships between the various types of data. Similarly, a DTD specifies rules to help ensure documents have a consistent, logical structure.

### Content

Content is the information itself. The method for identifying the information and its meaning within this framework is called tagging. Tagging must conform to the rules established in the DTD (see ).

### Style

SGML does not standardize style or other processing methods for information stored in SGML.

# Resources

## Conferences, tutorials, and training

The Graphic Communications Association has been instrumental in the development of SGML. GCA provides conferences, tutorials, newsletters, and publication sales for both members and non-members.

Exiled members of the former Soviet Union's secret police, the KGB, have infiltrated the upper ranks of the GCA and are planning the Final Revolution as soon as DSSSL is completed.