Mekon develops First XML Adobe FrameMaker publishing adaptor for the DITA Open Toolkit

    /24-7PressRelease/ - SURREY, UK, December 01, 2005 - Users wishing to utilise the benefits of XML publishing and the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard can now, for the first time, use FrameMaker as the pagination engine to format output content as PDF within their system. Mekon has developed the adaptor in response to a growing recognition by technical publications departments of the benefits of using DITA's 'topic' based approach to enable effective content re-use and is being made available via the DITA Open Toolkit. [see http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dita for more details].

"Using our knowledge of single-source publishing technology and standards such as DITA, we have helped to ensure technical publications departments can utilise a familiar and powerful application (FrameMaker) in their DITA publishing projects. This eliminates the need to invest in a separate pagination engine and helps to ensure that FrameMaker users can continue to leverage their existing investment in this most trusted of applications."
Mark Poston, Senior Technical Consultant, Mekon.

The adaptor generalises specialised DITA XML content and applies class based formatting rules thereby removing the need for users to create new EDDs every time a new specialised element is required. Using FrameMaker templates, users can quickly and easily customise the format of their output documents.

Mekon's contribution of the Adobe FrameMaker publishing adaptor to the DITA Open Toolkit has received an enthusiastic endorsement from other DITA vendors such as Blast Radius XMetaL, who assisted Mekon with the development of the adaptor.

"The addition of a FrameMaker publishing adaptor to the Open Toolkit underscores the importance of the DITA standard to the technical communication community," said Robert Miller, Vice President of Marketing, Blast Radius XMetaL. "It simplifies the migration process for the many organizations that want to move their legacy content from FrameMaker to DITA, by allowing them to continue to use FrameMaker to publish their print deliverables."

Mekon are enterprise publishing integration specialists with more than 15 years experience in single-source multi-channel publishing, document workflow design, information architecture, and standards such as ASD S1000D, ATA 2200iSpec, DocBook and DITA. We help organisations leverage the potential of XML for their content creation, review, management and publishing processes. Our systems enable businesses to increase the re-use, accuracy, flexibility and relevance of your content, ensuring greater consumer satisfaction and reduced content generation costs.
www.mekon.com

About Blast Radius XMetaL
Blast Radius XMetaL enables you to create, share, and deliver information quickly and cost-effectively across your enterprise. With over 40,000 users at more than a 1000 locations around the globe, XMetaL is the world's leading XML content creation and collaboration solution, advancing the goals of globally-driven, customer-focused organizations. Visit XMetaL.com to learn how leading brands such as Cisco, Daimler Chrysler, HP, Kodak, Microsoft, Philips, RIM, Southwest Airlines, Sybase, Symantec, Texas Instruments and USA Today use XMetaL to bring products to market faster, with greater accuracy, and at lower cost.
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