Totally New, concerns about application of XML

[Guest jan]

Hi all, I just joined the forum today and was looking at the tutorial. I usually develop web based training using html and flash. I might be tasked with converting technical manuals for online use. They want to use xml. Is this a good use of xml? Would a hundred page manual be doable? Alot of the manual would be text driven. I know I have a lot to learn but I was wondering what the opinion is of those who already use xml. Thank you for your time. I'm sure if this task does occur, I will be spending lots of time here.

[boen_robot]

I believe being used for manuals is one of the best uses XML has. Mostly because a manual is one of those type of documents that need to be available in many formats (for printing, viewing online, etc.) and that's what XML does best - separating content from presentation, allowing multiple presentations of a single content source.FLASH can read XML. At least it's latest version. What you need to know is the XML structure they plan to use and study the XML controls in FLASH. Any other presentaion they might want (XHTML, PDF, etc.) can be the concern of another developer more experienced at it. If the manual is edited (example: a typo) you (and the possible other developer) won't need to move a finger, as the content could then be auto updated (if that's how you've adjusted the presentaions of course- to generate the data on the fly).