Why on Earth would anyone want to convert perfectly good QuarkXPress (or FrameMaker, PageMaker, and so on) files into codes!? And what are those codes anyway?

There are different but related kinds of markup languages in use today. The most robust and flexible is XML (a descendant of the venerable SGML, which remains in use). Becoming more common is the sibling format of Open eBook (OEB) and its cousins.

There are various reasons to convert files, some obvious and some not so obvious. One obvious reason to convert your files to OEB is to distribute an electronic version at the same time as your print version to increase market penetration. Not so obvious reasons are the advantages of converting to XML as a preliminary stage on the way to OEB for electronic distribution; on-the-fly Web conversions (accompanied by styles to aid in the display); preparation of database archiving to facilitate search and retrieval of the entire document or components from within a document (for example, questions and answers for quizzes); and preparation for publish on demand.

Another option is to convert your files into XML. This conversion method is more detailed and requires more work to do it properly, but it is the ideal choice to preserve the content—that is, the actual information of documents.

In cases in which the design is equally important as the content it is useful to include a PDF version. Almost all print jobs today go to the printer in PDF format. It is a minor process to convert these high-resolution files into a version suitable for viewing on a computer using Adobe eBook Reader. The Acrobat PDF format is the ideal way to retain complicated design in a way that can be viewed on any computer platform.

To decide which conversion is the best option, you will need to know what you will use it for. Let’s discuss some of the possibilities.

Full XML

To capture content in the most detail you will want to have your files converted to full XML (as opposed to one of its subsets, such as OEB). Ideally you will have your own DTD (document type definition), but if not there are some standard DTDs available, such as DocBook. (For more information about DTDs, see box below.) A full XML translation enables detailed content management and data extraction through databases, and it simplifies further conversion to other formats.

Open eBook

If you know you will never need such detail as in a full XML conversion you may be satisfied with converting your data files into OEB. This does not provide the searching capabilities of complete XML conversion, but it produces a viewable file of small size and can be viewed on a number of devices from regular computers to dedicated eBook readers and handheld devices such as Palm.

Examples of readers based on the OEB standard are Microsoft Reader, Gemstar, and Baker & Taylor. The content is coded in a manner similar to the familiar HTML of Web pages. These enhanced readers allow the user to add notes and bookmarks to keep track of what has been read. It is also possible to add hyperlinks to highlight definitions and footnotes. File sizes are quite small so it is even possible to put complete books into the Palm devices.

ICC Macmillan can convert your files to any of these markup language formats. We can also create files from legacy materials such as older printed editions for which there are no electronic files. Our high-quality OCR scanning team can turn your printed editions into any of the eBook formats and then produce searchable PDF files from them. We can also convert standard PDF files by adding XML coding. If you'd like more information, please contact ICC Macmillan.