Techno Design will bring XML Impression 1.0 to the Mac in the first quarter of 2003. It’s a product designed to automate QuarkXPress software using XML (eXtensible Markup Language) standards.
XML Impression combines QuarkXPress software with automation technologies developed by Techno Design. However, it’s not just an XML import filter. It can also be used to create QuarkXPress documents, formulate new pages and items, replace existing content, save files, dynamically lay out content and publish material in print or PDF.
XML uses tags to describe and structure information. Techno Design has developed a set of XML tags (XML Impression Language) that the company says closely matches the structure of QuarkXPress documents. These tags refer to existing QuarkXPress items, but can also be used to create new items. XML Impression parses an incoming XML file to TCP-IP XT commands, which are sent to a QuarkXPress XTensions module equipped with TCP-IP functionality.
Techno Design’s TCP-IP XT module (for QuarkXPress versions 4 and 5, Mac and Windows) provides functionality similar to the QuarkXPress user interface, but has the advantage of remote and automatic document construction and information extraction, according to Techno Design. Construction and query commands are scripted into a programming or scripting application and sent to a QuarkXPress application/session running TCP-IP XT. In addition, TCP-IP XT can link to any database for database-driven document creation.
Pricing for the Mac version hasn’t been announced. But the Wintel version is US$1,999.