Open Source Tools

In addition to the commercial offerings from vendors in the XML tools marketplace, there is a considerable body of other tools that have been produced to support SGML and XML content management by the academic and open source communities.

NOTE: This section is more technically oriented than the proceeding sections. In general, open source solutions require a more technically oriented user. To make up for this, they may contain extremely powerful features that are not available in other products at any price, let alone for free²⁰

Some examples of these include:

• Bitflux Editor - A browser-based WYSIWYG XML editor written in JavaScript that uses XML, XSLT, and CSS for rendering. It is usable with any XML document and features tables, lists, images, special characters, clipboard, undo/redo, and easy customization.

• Ektron eWebEditPro+XML - A browser-based XML word processor-like editor that enables business users to apply XML to Web content. It provides a user layer between the XML tags themselves and user actions. Scripting and commands work together to control which tags the user has access to, and where the tags can be used. Business users will not realize they are working with XML tags, but instead think they are working within a set of content parameters, definitions, and/or rules. Customization is required to implement the DTD and produce valid XML, but once this is done, there is little need for further integration.

• GenDoc(formerly GenDiapo) - An XML editor based on a existing project, MerlotXML. It can use two kinds of plug-ins (DTD and/or action). The DTD plug-in can be used to customize the editor for a DTD, and an action plug-in can be used to publish documents in HTML or PDF format. The editor is composed of three views: tree view, attribute view for current element, and a "styled view". The aim of styled view is to show the document with a visual aspect.

• Morphon XML-Editor - A validating WYSIWYG XML editor that lets you create and modify XML documents in an intuitive manner. Using DTDs and CSS, the editor guarantees the integrity of your XML documents and presents them in a consistent and user-friendly way. The XML editor is bundled with the Morphon CSS Editor that can be used to customize your CSS, allowing you to change every aspect of the way the XML editor presents your document while editing. The CSS editor can also be used stand-alone to directly create CSS for the Web.

• exchanger - The eXchaNGeR XML browser is a browser and editor framework, written in Java, that visualizes elements in a XML document. The user can browse through and manage the visible elements in the document with external services, he or she can make changes to the content of the XML document with the built-in XML editor.

• Arsdigita CMS - A powerful content management system. It has a task list for production staff to track assignments and the status of current work items; a site map browser to view and organize pages and content items and determine access control to branches of the site; a standard interface for creating, editing, approving, and deploying content items; a template manager for creating, editing, and organizing presentation templates and related assets; a metadata manager for viewing and defining content types and associations; a category browser for managing a hierarchy of subject headings that may be applied to content items; and administrative and management tools for creating and editing user attributes and tracking global work flow statistics.

• OpenLMS - An LMS made at the Department of Geography, NTNU. The system is a fully functional LMS with support for group collaboration, file sharing, distribution of lectures, and other supporting features. It is a good tool for distributing lecture notes to groups of students, and for facilitating collaboration for groups of students and teachers.

• Moodle - An LMS for producing Internet-based course Web sites. It is written in PHP and is easy to install and use on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. It has been designed to support modern pedagogies based on social constructionist theory, and includes activity modules such as forums, resources, journals, quizzes, surveys, choices, and assignments. It has been translated into 30 languages, with more on the way. Moodle offers a free alternative to commercial software such as WebCT and Blackboard, and is being used by a growing number of universities, schools, and independent teachers for distance education or to supplement face-to-face teaching.

• And many more²¹...