PageSeeder design objectives

The PageSeeder approach to XML publishing workflows is different from that of conventional applications. PageSeeder was conceived and implemented as a web-based platform, not adapted from a desktop app. The orientation of the product has always been around collaboration and the constraints that are necessary to effectively and productively coordinate groups of users.

The evolution of PageSeeder was also the consequence of factors like:

• The gap between unstructured document processing technology and rich, semantic XML is too big and no evidence of it narrowing.
• The absence of support, in both web-based solutions and XML applications, for professional document features like complex paragraph numbering and integration with Microsoft Word.
• The lack of engagement with the casual developers often left to support users on a part-time basis.

The influence of these issues was that the focus of the product design was to find the simplest ways to meet the most demanding requirements.

Understanding that the conventional model of “one document = one file” doesn’t work in a collaborative environment, PageSeeder addresses questions, such as:

• XML is the intersection of the discipline and rigor of a standards process with people that have impeccable credentials for processing documents. Shouldn’t the value of the standard lead to software that is easier to use and less expensive than non-XML solutions?
• Provide collaborative editing and review – the slow rate of change in conventional, single-user desktop software indicates that architecture has been exhausted for productivity gains.
• Focus on the needs of developers – having spent many years implementing publishing solutions for end users, the architects knew that the real problem for publishing was that end-user requirements are too diverse for general solutions, and the real opportunity is productivity.