Editing Single-source publishing (section)

==History==
The origins of single-source publishing lie, indirectly, with the release of [[Windows 3.0]] in 1990.<ref name=bob162>Bob Boiko, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p6nUDn3ZaBoC&dq=Single+source+publishing&pg=PA162 Content Management Bible], pg. 162. [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]]: [[John Wiley & Sons]], 2005. {{ISBN|9780764583643}}</ref> With the eclipsing of [[MS-DOS]] by [[graphical user interface]]s, help files went from being unreadable text along the bottom of the screen to hypertext systems such as [[WinHelp]]. On-screen help interfaces allowed software companies to cease the printing of large, expensive help manuals with their products, reducing costs for both producer and consumer. This system raised opportunities as well, and many developers fundamentally changed the way they thought about publishing. Writers of [[software documentation]] did not simply move from being writers of traditional bound books to writers of [[electronic publishing]], but rather they became authors of central documents which could be reused multiple times across multiple formats.<ref name=bob162/>

The first single-source publishing project was started in 1993 by Cornelia Hofmann at [[Schneider Electric]] in [[Seligenstadt]], using software based on [[Interleaf]] to automatically create paper documentation in multiple languages based on a single original source file.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=inCeft4AkXcC&dq=single+source+publishing&pg=PA65 Translating Into Success: Cutting-edge Strategies for Going Multilingual in a Global Age], pg. 227. Eds. Robert C. Sprung and Simone Jaroniec. [[Amsterdam]]: [[John Benjamins Publishing Company]], 2000. {{ISBN|9789027231871}}</ref>

[[XML]], developed during the mid- to late-1990s, was also significant to the development of single-source publishing as a method. XML, a markup language, allows developers to separate their documentation into two layers: a shell-like layer based on presentation and a core-like layer based on the actual written content. This method allows developers to write the content only one time while switching it in and out of multiple different formats and delivery methods.<ref>Doug Wallace and Anthony Levinson, "The XML e-Learning Revolution: Is Your Production Model Holding You Back?" Taken from [https://books.google.com/books?id=4RK7tJ-OO3cC&dq=Single+source+publishing&pg=PA65 Best of The eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions: Articles from the eMagazine's First Five Years], pg. 63. Ed. Bill Brandon. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. {{ISBN|9780470277157}}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, several firms began creating and using single-source content for technical documentation (Boeing Helicopter, Sikorsky Aviation and Pratt & Whitney Canada) and user manuals (Ford owners manuals) based on tagged SGML and XML content generated using the Arbortext Epic editor with add-on functions developed by a contractor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pratt And Whitney Canada Manuals|url=https://pdflife.one/download/4574326-pratt-and-whitney-canada-manuals|access-date=2022-02-17|website=pdflife.one|language=EN}}</ref> The concept behind this usage was that complex, hierarchical content that did not lend itself to discrete componentization could be used across a variety of requirements by tagging the differences within a single document using the capabilities built into SGML and XML.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Getting Started with SGML/XML|url=https://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/documentation/reference/html/ch01.html|access-date=2022-02-17|website=www.oasis-open.org}}</ref>
Ford, for example, was able to tag its single owner's manual files so that 12 model years could be generated via a resolution script running on the single completed file.  Pratt & Whitney, likewise, was able to tag up to 20 subsets of its jet engine manuals in single-source files, calling out the desired version at publication time. [[World Book Encyclopedia]] also used the concept to tag its articles for American and British versions of English.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-06-19 |title=The World Book Encyclopedia |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/libguide/ency/12.html |access-date=2022-02-17 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619073314/http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/libguide/ency/12.html |archive-date=19 June 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Starting from the early 2000s, single-source publishing was used with an increasing frequency in the field of [[technical translation]]. It is still regarded as the most efficient method of publishing the same material in different languages.<ref>Bert Esselink, "Localisation and translation." Taken from [https://books.google.com/books?id=a4W7lWgCqYoC&dq=Single+source+publishing&pg=PA73 Computers and Translation: A Translator's Guide], pg. 73. Ed. H. L. Somers. [[Amsterdam]]: [[John Benjamins Publishing Company]], 2003. {{ISBN|9789027216403}}</ref> Once a printed manual was translated, for example, the online help for the software program which the manual accompanies could be automatically generated using the method.<ref>Burt Esselink, ''A Practical Guide to Localization'', pg. 228. Volume 4 of Language international world directory. [[Amsterdam]]: [[John Benjamins Publishing Company]], 2000. {{ISBN|9781588110060}}</ref> [[Metadata]] could be created for an entire manual and individual pages or files could then be translated from that metadata with only one step, removing the need to recreate information or even database structures.<ref>Cornelia Hofmann and Thorsten Mehnert, "Multilingual Information Management at Schneider Automation." Taken from ''Translating Into Success'', pg. 67.</ref>

Although single-source publishing is now decades old, its importance has increased urgently as of the 2010s. As consumption of information products rises and the number of target audiences expands, so does the work of developers and content creators. Within the industry of software and its documentation, there is a perception that the choice is to embrace single-source publishing or render one's operations obsolete.<ref name=cms/>