SGML in publishing — why use the standard?

As database techniques are becoming more widely used in publishing and as publishers seek to utilise the growing possibilities of multimedia, there is a growing awareness of the possibilities offered by Standard Generalised Markup language (SGML) as a neutral format for safeguarding content independent of proprietary hardware and software. Pindar is a service company with over ten years' experience in working with different IT projects utilising the standard and its associated tools. Three current case studies, involving technical documentation and reference publishing, demonstrate how and why SGML is becoming useful for document management outside the traditional areas of the aerospace and defence industries, where it was first developed.