- Syntext Serna
Infobox Software
name = Syntext Serna
developer = Syntext, Inc
latest_release_version = 3.7.0
latest_release_date = May 7, 2008
operating system =Multi-platform
genre =XML editor
license =Proprietary
website = [http://www.syntext.com/products/serna/index.htm]Syntext Serna is a
WYSIWYG XML editor from Syntext, Inc. Syntext Serna works on Windows,Linux ,Mac OS X , and Sun Solaris/SPARC .XML editing features
Syntext Serna supports DITA,
DocBook ,XHTML , TEI, NITF, and other popularXML document types out-of-the-box.S1000D support is also available.Syntext Serna fully supports XML Catalogs ( [http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/entity/spec-2001-08-06.html OASIS Committee Specification 06 Aug 2001] ).
Structured authoring
The user is assisted in element insertion by means of context-specific lists of valid elements and allowed attributes with possible attribute values, and context-sensitive help for elements and attributes. Unambiguously required elements are created automatically.
All operations, including drag&drop, are validated on-the-fly against W3C XML Schema. On opening a document, Syntext Serna also validates it against a specified DTD.
XML table editing is supported for CALS, XSL-FO and
HTML table models. Syntext Serna eases the work even with extensive documents through large document support, advanced document navigation, and search&replace that allows the user to find text, attribute names and values, comments, and elements.DITA support
Syntext Serna supports DITA 1.0 and DITA 1.1 documents out-of-the-box as well as DITA specializations.
A number of DITA usability tools simplify insertion and editing of common DITA constructs such as conref, xref, related links, topicref, etc.
References in DITA Maps and topics display the titles retrieved from the referred documents. The user can quickly navigate to the target of a reference.
DITA Maps can be shown with the resolved content of all the referred topics.
The content referred with conref can be shown resolved in-place indistinguishable from regular content. Alternatively, conref can be shown as a highlighted path to the target element.
The content of local conrefs can be edited in-place. DITA documents can be published to HTML and PDF format via embedded
DITA Open Toolkit 1.4. Publishing to PDF can be done either with FOP out-of-the-box or with Antenna House XSL Formatter.Document view and profiling
Document view in the Editing Window is dynamic and flexible. It is controlled by XSLT/XSL-FO stylesheets. The user can switch between several profiled views of a document. For example, a DITA map can be shown as a hierarchy of topicrefs or as the resolved content of the referred topics.
The content of a document can be divided into multiple numbered pages or displayed on a single page. The Paginated view is convenient for working with extensive documents such as Docbook. The Normal view is convenient when the user prefers to avoid breaks in content, for example when working with tables.
Content reuse
Syntext Serna supports internal and external entities,
XInclude , and the DITA conref mechanism.The most essential XInclude features are supported. It is possible to include a text file or an XML document, or include only a fragment of an XML document. All entities/XInclude are edited in-place. Changes are propagated with immediate visual feedback to all occurrences of entity/XInclude references in a document.
Collaboration and review
Syntext Serna provides several features for international collaborative authoring.
A full review cycle is supported, including the ability to redline any document portion as inserted, deleted or commented, optionally adding an annotation, and redlining navigation to accept or reject the redlining marks.
The
WebDAV functionality allows users to edit and save documents shared with other people on a WebDAV-enabled server. The SSL protocol provides for secure communication between Serna and a remote HTTP or WebDAV server.Syntext Serna fully supports UNICODE and offers multilingual spell checking.
The user interface is localized into a number of languages (Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Igbo, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish).
Publishing
Syntext Serna offers multi-channel publishing, including out-of-the-box publishing to HTML and external publishing to PDF with FOP, XEP, or Antenna House XSL Formatter.
A document can be printed as draft right from Syntext Serna exactly as it appears on the screen.
PostScript and PDF generation is also available.Customization and integration
Syntext Serna is fully customizable and integratable.
A customized user interface can be saved for a specific document type (e.g. Docbook or DITA). When the user opens a document, the associated user interface layout comes up automatically.
It is possible to create a configuration package with specific settings (e.g. XML catalog file list) and files (stylesheets, examples, etc), and then apply it across all installations.
Syntext Serna is integrated with X-Hive Docato, RSuite, Vasont,
eXist , Bluestream, and other WebDAV-enabled CMSes.Syntext Serna has an open API for customizations and integration. The API is available for
C++ and Python scripting language.Standards support
Syntext Serna supports the following open standards:
*DITA
*DocBook
*XPATH
*XInclude
*MathML
*CALS Table editing and rendering
*W3C Schema
*W3C DTD
*Namespaces
*Unicode
*Scripting: Python
*XSL: XSLT and XSL-FO
*OASIS XML CatalogsLicensing policy
Syntext Serna is a licensed software product that uses key protection to prevent unlicensed usage. A 30-day free trial license is available.
References
*Bob Doyle. PDFlink| [http://www.ditanews.com/tools/STC_Intercom.pdf "DITA Tools from A to Z"] , "ditanews.com",
April ,2008 .
*Bob Doyle. [http://www.cmsreview.com/XML/Editors/ "XML Editors Review"] , "cmsreview.com",June 20 ,2006 .
*Bob Doyle. [http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=15686 "X Marks the Spot: Let’s Take Today’s XML Content-Creation Tools for a Spin"] , "econtentmag.com",June 13 ,2006 .
*Thijs van den Broek, Ylva Berglund. [http://ahds.ac.uk/creating/information-papers/xml-editors/ "Choosing an XML editor"] , "Arts and Humanities Data Service",January 17 ,2005 .
*Thomas V. Kappel. [http://www.kickstartnews.com/reviews/internet/serna_xml_editor.html "Syntext Serna XML WYSIWYG Editor - utility review"] , "kickstartnews.com",February ,2004 .
*Prof. Sissi Closs. [http://www.contentmanager.net/magazine/article_1365-568_dita_component_content_management.html "The Most Important Questions About DITA"] , "contentmanager.net",March ,2007 .
*Lars Trieloff. [http://weblogs.goshaky.com/weblogs/lars/entry/syntext_serna_1_0_and "Syntext Serna 1.0 and XMLmind XXE 2.5"] , "Lars Trieloff's Collaboration Weblog",June 14 ,2004 .
*cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= XML WYSIWYG Editor facilitates collaborative authoring.(Syntext Releases Serna XML Editor Offering New Possibilities for Collaborative Authoring) |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9596628_ITM |work=Product News Network |publisher= |date=07 September 2005 |accessdate=2008-07-14External links
* [http://www.syntext.com/products/serna/index.htm Syntext Serna XML Editor product page]
* [http://www.syntext.com/downloads/index.htm#Serna Syntext Serna XML Editor download page]
* [http://www.syntext.com/index.htm Syntext website]
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