However, the specs/implementations are close to being finalized and standardized, and major software companies are working as fast as possible to develop advanced SGML and XML software (SGML development/authoring software in Word Perfect 8, and XML-display software such as the still-in-process Netscape Navigator 5.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 Web browsers).
By the end of this year, Netscape and Microsoft are expected to release their Web browsers with modern XML and Style Sheet capability. If all goes as planned, students and faculty will then be able to create and display customized documents for information exchange. SGML and XML documents also allow extremely advanced database-search capability, due to their content tags. "Structured search" capability is particularly useful in humanities research, as will be seen in Chapter 4.
In short
Although it is quite easy for faculty and students to author
XML documents, the current "growing pains" in SGML/XML software
means that, right now, HTML is a more efficient way for students and faculty
to exchange information. Industry experts expect that, by next
year (1999),
SGML/DSSSL and XML/XSL will bypass HTML/CSS in terms of
efficiency
and ease-of-use. At that point, SGML/XML's versatility, capability,
and power
will be available to all. Until then, IATH has developed a few
prototype software
packages that may be helpful to humanities students and faculty
(Chapter 4.2).
Although the sites are currently in an "under construction" stage due to
the newness of
the technology, there are some outstanding "in-process" SGML/XML web sites
that students and faculty can access with standard HTML web browsers.
These sites include IATH's "The World of Dante" site, IATH's "William Blake
Archive," and IATH's "Rossetti Archive," all of which allow students and
faculty to, among other things, do complex structured searches of
written works and pictorial works.
These and other humanities computing sites will be looked at in more detail,
in the following Chapters.
