XMetaL, or XMetaL Author, is a software application people use to create and edit documents in

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...

and

SGML The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates": * Declarative: Markup should des ...

. It has some features common to

word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Word processor (electronic device), Early word processors were stand-alone devices ded ...

s, but is a native

XML editor An XML editor is a markup language editor with added functionality to facilitate the editing of XML. This can be done using a plain text editor, with all the code visible, but XML editors have added facilities like tag completion and menus and but ...

that can be configured to work with various standard and custom DTDs and

XML Schema An XML schema is a description of a type of Extensible Markup Language, XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed ...

s. XMetaL was first released by

SoftQuad Software SoftQuad Software was a Canadian software company best known for HoTMetaL, the first commercial HTML editor. It is also known for Author/Editor, the first specialized SGML editor, and Panorama, the first browser plugin for SGML. Panorama demonstrat ...

in 1999 and is currently developed by

JustSystems is a Japanese software development house. The company's main products were a word processor, Ichitaro ("JohnnyOne"), a Japanese input method, ATOK. In 2010s, they focus on correspondence education and enterprise software. Description JustSyste ...

Uses

XMetaL has a

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

resembling a word processor, in contrast with other

s such as

XMLSpy XMLSpy is a proprietary XML editor and integrated development environment (IDE) developed by Altova. XMLSpy allows developers to create XML-based and Web services applications using technologies such as XML, JSON, XBRL, XML Schema, XSLT, XPath ...

that are designed for XML programmers. XMetaL is used by both technical and non-technical writers, most often to develop technical documents, website content, newspaper and magazine content, and organizational policies and procedures. Government agencies also use XMetaL for tracking legislation.

Features

XMetaL includes features common to word processors, such as a spellchecker, a thesaurus, and the ability to track changes made to documents. XMetaL provides different views of a document, known as “Normal”, “Tags On” and “Plain Text,” which reveal the underlying element tags and other XML markup to varying degrees, and uses standard

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone techno ...

files to style documents for display within the editor. A “Resource Manager” pane can be used to locate and insert items such as image files and frequently reused text fragments. XMetaL can be configured to work with standard or custom DTDs or XML Schemas (XSDs). Once configured, the user interface displays options for inserting elements and attributes declared in the DTD or XSD, and ensures all changes to documents are valid according to the rules of the DTD or XSD. Developers can also associate menu items and toolbar buttons for editing images, tables, and lists with elements and attributes in the particular DTD or XSD. Through a macro facility, developers can add custom

dialog box The dialog box (also called dialogue box (non-U.S. English), message box or simply dialog) is a graphical control element in the form of a small window that communicates information to the user and prompts them for a response. Dialog boxes ar ...

es, menu commands, toolbar buttons, forms, and behaviors, using languages supported by the Microsoft scripting environment such as

JScript JScript is Microsoft's legacy dialect of the ECMAScript standard that is used in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 11 and older. JScript is implemented as an Active Scripting engine. This means that it can be "plugged in" to OLE Automation applicati ...

and

VBScript VBScript (''"Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition"'') is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It allows Microsoft Windows system administrators to generate powerful tools for managing computers w ...

. It also includes interfaces for

COM Com or COM may refer to: Computing * COM (hardware interface), a serial port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers * COM file, or .com file, short for "command", a file extension for an executable file in MS-DOS * .com, an Internet top-level d ...

and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

. XMetaL includes features to import content from a database into an XML document, and can be integrated with other systems via

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

s. XMetaL works with a variety of

content management system A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content (content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...

s. The “Enterprise” version of XMetaL includes the

Darwin Information Typing Architecture The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) specification defines a set of document types for authoring and organizing topic-oriented information, as well as a set of mechanisms for combining, extending, and constraining document types. It i ...

(DITA) DTDs and features for editing and publishing DITA topics and maps.

Thin-client version

XMAX, a platform for creating

thin client In computer networking, a thin client is a simple (low-performance) computer that has been optimized for establishing a remote connection with a server-based computing environment. They are sometimes known as ''network computers'', or in th ...

custom XML editors, was first released in 2003 under the name “XMetaL for ActiveX”. XMAX-based applications can run within the

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Microsoft Wind ...

browser for Windows, and can be embedded in other applications that support

ActiveX ActiveX is a deprecated software framework created by Microsoft that adapts its earlier Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies for content downloaded from a network, particularly from the World Wide Web. ...

History

XMetaL was first developed by

, which had previously developed the HTML editor

HoTMetaL HoTMetaL is an early commercial HTML-authoring software program, released in 1994 by SoftQuad Software of Toronto, Canada. Based on the SGML engine of SoftQuad Author/Editor, HoTMetaL was released with a free version (HoTMetal Free) and a profes ...

and the SGML editor Author-Editor. XMetaL 1.0, released in June 1999, was the first stand-alone XML editor to offer a word-processor-like user interface. In 2002, the Ottawa-based

Corel Corporation Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo (pronounced like "all you do"), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviation ...

bought SoftQuad, but failed to successfully develop the business. In 2003, XMetaL was rebranded as "XMetaL Author", as some features for extending and customizing the product were separated into a "XMetaL Developer" application. In 2004, Corel sold the XMetaL business to

Blast Radius A blast radius is the distance from the source that will be affected when an explosion occurs. A blast radius is often associated with bombs, mines, explosive projectiles ( propelled grenades), and other weapons with an explosive charge. Use ...

, a company based in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, which was still home to most members of the original XMetaL development team. Critique, a product that had been developed by Blast Radius for collaborative reviewing of XML documents, would later be rebranded as "XMetaL Reviewer". XMetaL was the first major XML editor to provide specific features for DITA.{{cite book, title=XML and Component Content Management Report 2009 , publisher=CMS Watch , location=Olney, MD USA , pages=84–91 , url=http://www.cmswatch.com/CCM/Report/ , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204093144/http://www.cmswatch.com/CCM/Report/ , archive-date=2008-12-04 In 2006, Japan-based

Corporation acquired the XMetaL business from Blast Radius, keeping the XMetaL development team based in Vancouver.

References

External links

Official website
XML editors Windows text-related software Technical communication tools