Phil Fearon
@pgfearo
The case for concurrent working

XML Authoring Workflows
Purpose
Workflow Types
Existing Solutions
Concurrent Workflows and Merge

Purpose of Workflow
Let people work together
Improve quality
Ensure consistent style
Check correctness
…

1. Sequential
2. Concurrent
Types of Authoring Workflow

Non-XML Change
Management
Parallels with Software Development?
Program Source Code
Computer Instructions – but human readable
XML Document
Free-flow text – within an XML structure

Microsoft Word
oXygen XML

XMLFlow Goals
• User-Interface Study
• Document merge Demonstrator
• Prove Client-side XML Processing
• Explore Web/Mobile technologies

Practical Concurrent Working

Demo Summary

Browser
XMLFlow Design
DeltaXML
Merge
Web
Application
Server
Cloud Storage

‘Raw’ DITA Merge Result

Serialized Working Merge

Technologies Used
• DeltaXML Merge
• BootStrap CSS
• JavaScript & HTML5 APIs
• Saxon-CE XSLT 2.0
• HTTP Servlets & WebSockets (for callbacks)

Conclusions
• Concurrent working adds flexibility
• N-way document merge solutions exist
• An effective UI for merge is essential
• XML in the browser is alive and well!