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From Adobe InDesign CS2 to InDesign CS6, the ability to work with XML content has
been built into every version of InDesign. Some of the useful applications are importing
database content into InDesign to create catalog pages, exporting XML that will be
useful for subsequent publishing processes, and building chunks of content that can
be reused in multiple publications. XML is used widely with digital-first publishing
workflows.
In this book, we’ll play with the contents of a college course catalog and you’ll learn how
you can use XML for course descriptions, tables, and other content. Underlying principles
of XML structure, DTDs, and the InDesign namespace will help you develop your
own XML processes. I’ll touch briefly on using InDesign to “skin” XML content, exporting
as XHTML, InCopy, and the IDML package. Chapter 10, Advanced Topics:
Transforming XML with XSL includes tips on using XSLT to manipulate XML in conjunction
with InDesign.
In this book, I refer to InDesign CS6, and previous versions of the program back to CS3,
generically as “InDesign CS.” When there are important differences in one version’s XML
features, I indicate for which version the screenshot or other information applies. Many
features remain the same from one version to another. Generally, the screenshots are
taken from InDesign CS6 for new content and CS5 for older content. I assume that you
already know quite a bit about InDesign typographic styles and layout features because
you want to use InDesign to do something with XML. In particular, I assume that you
understand the role that paragraph and character styles play in consistent typography
throughout an InDesign document or set of documents in the same InDesign template.
(If you are new to these concepts, please refer to Adobe’s InDesign CS built-in
Help→Styles or Peachpit Press’s Real World Adobe InDesign CS6.)
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