Optimizing XML Publishing Workflow for Multiple Output Formats at Once – Experience & Solutions

[hneidernigel]

Hello everyone,

I am working on a large document project using Oxygen XML and have a challenge of publishing documents to multiple formats (PDF, HTML, EPUB) at once while maintaining layout accuracy, cross-reference and automatic table of contents.

Specifically the problem I encountered:

When exporting to PDF and HTML from the same XML set, some internal links and images are misplaced or formatted incorrectly.

Maintaining consistent style between different outputs is time-consuming.

Some plugins/extensions support automation but are not flexible enough or are not compatible with the current version of Oxygen XML.

I would like to ask:

Has anyone successfully implemented a multi-format publishing automation workflow without too much effort?

Experience with templates or plugins that help minimize formatting errors when exporting PDF/HTML/EPUB at the same time?

Is there any method to optimize XSLT or DITA-OT to export multiple formats seamlessly and accurately?

I believe many people have the same problem, so I would love to share practical experiences, good tips, or support tools that you are using.

Thanks in advance everyone!

[julien_lacour]

Hello,

In recent versions of Oxygen we added publishing templates that can be used to generate both PDF (through DITA Map PDF - based on HTML5 & CSS based scenarios) and WebHelp Responsive (HTML) scenarios. These templates reference CSS stylesheet(s) common to both outputs instead of XSLT.

If you are new to CSS you can use Oxygen Styles Basket to generate such template, and of course their can be extended with your own CSS rules.

Another good way to handle your workflow is to use DITA Project File: you can declare all your deliverables in it, set the transformation parameters (including publishing templates) and launch a single command to generate all the outputs.


Regards,
Julien