A crash course on markup languages for the aspiring technical translators: The explosion of new technologies has turned many translators into mesmerized spectators of a business built on their very shoulders. XML (extensible markup language) is the standard data exchange tool for web and other environments that translators are forced to use while working on XML files or using XML based translation software. This workshop will help them understand the technology they are both manipulating and using, by covering first HTML basics as a building block, and later introducing XML concepts and translation issues. In this first part, we look at the evolution of markup languages and delve into HTML as a building block.

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DO YOU SPEAK XML?
by Romina L Marazzato

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ML: Intro
 Markup Language
 Data exchange tool
 MLs in translation: marked-up files &
ML‑based translation tools

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A Little History: SGML
 SGML: Standardized General Markup
Language
 Developed in the 80s
 For aerospace & automotive industries
 ISO standard in 1986 (ISO 8879)

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A Little History: HTML
 HTML: Hypertext Markup Language
 Developed in the 90’s
 First markup language specially designed
for the Web, based on SGML
 Comparable to Controlled English:
subset of a more comprehensive
language

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A Little History: XML
 XML: Extensible Markup Language
 XML: Developement started in 1996
 Initiative of the W3C for large-scale
electronic publishing
 W3C recommendation in February 1998
 W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
(Development of Web technologies)

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What is a Markup Language?
 Publishing world
 Text to be printed ≠ Instructions on how
to print it
 Set of instructions (such as font size,
color, etc.): “markup”

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Markup: A Definition
A method
to code data
with information
about that data

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Example: Textbook Highlighting

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Example: Textbook Highlighting
 Classifying or "marking up" the
information: original content + relevance
 If different meanings > several colors
(main ideas + support ideas)
 If different sets of colors > cannot share
the texbook
(main ideas + support ideas)

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Example: Textbook Highlighting

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Conditions for Useful Markup
 Standard defining what is a valid markup
(highlighting in pink & yellow)
 Standard defining what that markup
means
(pink: main ideas & yellow: support
ideas)

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Linguistic Conditions
 We provide our SIGNS (colors) with
VALUES (messages) derived from their
mutual and exclusive RELATIONS
 We are defining a LANGUAGE through a
system of DIFFERENCE
(Saussure)

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Example: Proofreading

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Example: Text Processors

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Example: TM Tools

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Semiotics
In order to talk about a language,
we need another language

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Semiotics
Theory of the Suppositions (Scholastics)
Statements refer to:
- entities: suppositio formalis
- names of entities: suppositio materialis
>> different logical levels of languages
They relied on context!

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Semiotics
 USE:
“Goblins are deceiving creatures.”
 MENTION:
“’Goblin’ comes from a Greek term.”
 Note the use of quotation marks

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Semiotics
Theory of the Hierarchy of Languages:
 Object Language
 Metalanguage

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Semiotics
MLs:
 Metalanguages
 Describe the text
 Allow to manipulate it

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HTML
 Popular markup systems
 Defines how a browser presents text,
images, and sounds of web documents
 Ability to handle instructions (tags) to
interconnect document (hyperlinks) and
allow user interaction (forms)

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HTML’s Standards
1. Valid Markup: Tags, consisting of
delimiters and names: <Tag Name>
2. Meaning: Each tag communicates a
layout message, associating a structure
or style rule to the marked-up text
<p> = paragraph

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HTML Reader
 Targeted at HTML processors, usually
Internet browsers
 Read the instructions and present the
document according to the associated
rules

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HTML Graphic File
Description
<p><img src="porta.GIF"
width="432" height="216"
align="BOTTOM" alt="Porta
Ludovica"><br>

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Graphic File Interpretation

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HTML Signs
 HTML uses a textual language based in
English
 We can read it and edit it with a simple
text processor such as NotePad
 What we see in the text processor differs
from what the browser presents us with

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Page with Netscape

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Page with NotePad

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HTML Interpretation & Editing
 Display varies from browser to browser
“This site is optimized for Internet
Explorer 4.0 or higher”
 Editors can present “raw” HTML or
“interpreted” HTML, or both
 WYSIWYG: what you see is what you get

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HTML Tags
 <b> instructs the browser to display the
marked-up text in bold
 <a> href="mailto:EMAIL">TEXT</a>
creates an email link
EMAIL: romina@romina.com
TEXT: Romina
PRESENTATION: Romina

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HTML “words”
 Words: separated by spaces
 Markup Sequences: distinguished by
opening and closing each tag
 Convention:
<tag name>marked-up text</tag name>

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HTML “words”
Tags can have attributes defined by a
property and a value
<table width=”100%”> creates a table as
wide as the screen
 Tag: <table>
 Property: “width”
 Value: window % or pixels

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HTML Syntax
 What happens if we want the text to be
both bold and italicised?
 Third condition of markup languages:
3. Standard defining how markup signs
can be combined, i.e., a grammar

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HTML Syntax: Example
<b><i>ATA Conference</i></b>
ATA Conference

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HTML Limitations
 Tags grew more and more complex,
mixing style and content (or structure)
tags within the document
(Bolding, Centering, Paragraphs, Tables,
Links, Lists, Colors, etc.)
 W3C decided to separate style
instructions from content instructions

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HTML Expansion
 Content instructions (such as <h1>,
largest title) would continue to be part of
HTML markup within a document
 Style tags (such as <font>) would be
used in Cascading Style Sheets or CSS
style instructions separate from, but
associated with, the document

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HTML + CSS Advantage
 Control the style without compromising
the structural integrity of the data
 Associate the same HTML document
with different style sheets
 Evolution into a more standardized
language

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CSS Style Definitions
 Overwrite browser default parameters
 Choice {font-family: Helvetica, Geneva}
 Classes: .class {property 1: value 1; etc}
.green {font-family: Helvetica, Geneva;
color: magenta}
<p class=“green”>Text is magenta &
Helvetica</p>

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Extended HTML Features
 Tags in lowercase
 Tags opening & closing (closing instruction
<hr />
 Attributes = Property + Value, declared
<hr shade="noshade">
 Tags must be embedded in order
<b><i> text </i></b>

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HTML Document Skeleton
<HTML>
<head>
<title> Page Title
</title>
</head>
<body> Page Content
</body>
</HTML>

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HTML Summary
 How Internet browsers display text,
images and sounds
 Valid markup is defined by tags with an
associated meaning and grammar
 CSS are a mechanism to separate style
instructions from content instructions for
a web page

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XML: Evolution or Revolution?
 Less strict and complicated SGML dialect
SGML :: Indo-European
HTML :: Controlled English
XML :: English
 Extensible: no predetermined set of tags
 Applicable to very diverse fields

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XML Off the Rack
 MathML, for mathematics
 SMIL, for multimedia (Synchronized
Multimedia Integration Language)
 CML, for manipulating molecular
information

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XML Flexibility
 MathML, for mathematics; SMIL, for
multimedia (Synchronized Multimedia
Integration Language); CML, for
manipulating molecular information