A document preparation paradigm based on the specification method of layout structure

The document preparation facility is one of the most important functionalities in various types of information systems. Now that high-density laser printers are commonly provided and various kinds of jobs are effectively computerized, electronic and paper documents related to desktop publishing are easily composed by computers. Document preparation tools/systems (or formatters) that are currently utilized embed the text layout control data into the source text data. These traditional formatters are not always successful because the task of embedding layout control data into the source text data is very troublesome and difficult: such a framework lacks flexibility, adaptability and applicability. Our approach enables a layout-independent document preparation mechanism, because the original text data are separated from the layout control data; the layout structure information is specified externally by a format definition language. In this paper, we discuss the concept and framework of our document preparation facility, and also show a prototype system