Near&Far
(MicroStar)A standalone visual (graphical) SGML DTD design
tool, originally for Microsoft Windows
95. N&F made it very easy to
prototype a new document type, although later stages
of development were usually hand-tuned. It was also an
excellent tool for displaying the structure of a
newly-encountered DTD. When XML arrived, they kept the
internal SGML model but provided a
‘save-as’ in XML syntax.
Many current design tools have similar embedded
functionality (eg XML Spy),
but there is no equivalent standalone tool of the same
quality. A development to use
RelaxNG to generate
different syntaxes would be a major advance.
MicroStar was bought by OpenText Corp and the
product was dropped on the floor just at the point
when it would have been most useful. If you have a
copy (one was embedded in the WordPerfect SGML/XML
editor), it still executes under XP, and in
Codeweavers' Wine under
Linux.
DynaWeb (EBT)A family of products:
DynaBase, the underlying
SGML database; DynaWeb, a
Windows server with a graphically-managed stylesheet
system for serving XML or SGML converted to HTML, and
an excellent markup search facility; and
DynaTag, a GUI system for
converting Word and
Frame documents to SGML or
XML, based on the original
RainbowMaker commandline
converter.
EBT was bought up by Inso Corp, and the product
was ignored for several years. However, a page on
Indo's server now claims to provide details, but it is
not known if the product is still available. It
appears that they inherited some users, so for a while
they still had a DynaWeb
training page.
The good news is that Red Bridge Software now
occupies the old EBT factory (under the Red Bridge in
Providence, RI), selling a content management system
that includes DynaTag and
some other elements of the original range.
Panorama
(SoftQuad)An SGML browser from SoftQuad
with an SGML-syntax stylesheet which worked both
standalone and as a Netscape plugin, based on Synex
Viewport. This let users
open direct links to SGML documents:
Panorama would download
both instance and DTD via an entity resolver, perform
a tokenised parse, and apply the specified
stylesheet.
Its unique features included switching between
multiple stylesheets, a search result density
indicator, and the ability to implement double-ended
HyTime links, which let anyone publish their own set
of links, even multi-ended links, and even between
documents that they didn't own. The browser plugin was
free, and the full version included the stylesheet
editor.
SoftQuad faltered after Yuri Rubinsky passed away,
and was taken over by Corel
(WordPerfect), where the
product was ignored.
SoftQuad's
Author/Editor SGML editor
product transmuted into
XMeTaL, which is still
available from JustSystems.
