SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language

Despite its name, SGML is not a markup language.

It is a language for specifying markup languages.

It was developed by the Department of Defense to ease the portability of electronic documents.

It is also known as ISO 8879, and is/was the fastest selling standard in history!

It is part of the CALS initiative. Its use has crossed academic, university, public, private, and military boundaries.

(Can anyone name anything else used by such a diverse group?)

Its use is simple: it allows the transfer of formatted text, and both electronic and print output can be obtained from the same text.

SGML:

SGML is more than a Markup Language. It is a metalanguage for specifying markup languages.

How does this work?

The CALS Project has created a number of other standards - DSSSL, for specifying semantics (like formatting), SPDL, Standard Page Description Language, SDIF, SGML Document Interchange Format, and a number of standards for graphics.

HyTime specifies how Hypermedia documents - which can contain audio, moving and still pictures - can be represented using SGML.

The issue here is one of representing time and movement and synchronization in a document which may be perceived as static.

HyTime associates objects - film, video clips, etc. with hyperlinks .

TEI's Gentle Introduction to SGML

SGML DTD for HTML

SGML conformance


Send questions and comments to: Karen Lemone