Adobe prepares to publish XML

Adobe Systems said today that it will add support for the Extensible Markup Language, or XML, to its FrameMaker publishing software next year.

XML is a syntactical infrastructure or metalanguage that provides a framework for creating and describing other markup languages, such as HTML. As the amount of networked information continues to burgeon, XML proponents say the format will make electronic data easier to search, categorize, and exchange between documents because it allows for greater flexibility in the description of data.

Adobe will update its FrameMaker 5.5 and FrameMaker+SGML 5.5 software in the second quarter of 1998 to publish documents in XML format. FrameMaker is generally used to create documents in the range of 50 to 200 pages long, according to Adobe.

Adoption of XML is expected to speed up in the coming months, as the Web standard-setting World Wide Web Consortium moves toward making XML a standard. Within approximately six weeks, W3C member companies will review the final XML specification and cast a vote to either accept, modify, or reject it.