Accelerating Web Author Framework Creation and Customization

Developing and customizing Author frameworks for Oxygen XML Web Author traditionally requires repeated deployment cycles and in-depth knowledge of XML configuration, CSS, Schematron, and XSLT. The following two projects reduce that effort by simplifying the testing workflow and by adding AI assistance to the customization process:

Web Author Test Server Add-on

The Web Author Test Server Add-on is an add-on for Oxygen XML Editor/Author that lets you preview and edit XML documents in a local web browser using a test server that installs and configures itself automatically. It simplifies and speeds up the process of creating, updating, and testing Oxygen customizations (Author frameworks), removing the manual deployment steps.

Key characteristics:

• Automatic installation and configuration of the local test server.
• Reuses your existing Oxygen frameworks, options, and plugins.
• Real-time document preview in desktop and mobile browsers, with QR code generation for quick access from mobile devices.
• Designed for testing only — connections and editing sessions are limited so it cannot be used as a real-world Web Author deployment.

It is intended for developers and customization teams who need to validate framework changes during development, before deploying to an actual Web Author environment.

AI Skills for Framework Creation

The AI-Assisted Framework Development for Oxygen Web Author project is a collection of AI Skills that let you customize Web Author through natural language prompts instead of writing configuration code by hand. You describe the changes you want in plain English, and an AI assistant handles code generation, configuration, testing, and iteration.

Key characteristics:

• Documentation-driven: relies on AI-friendly formatted documentation (an llms.txt index and Markdown files) to stay consistent with the official resources.
• Automated code generation of declarative .exf framework extensions based on your requirements.
• Live testing: launches Web Author in a browser and tests the customization in Chrome with no human interaction.
• Iterative refinement: automatically fixes issues until the implementation works correctly.
• Covers a broad range of customizations — templates, styling, form controls, toolbar actions, and validation rules.

It is particularly valuable for technical writers and developers who want to customize Web Author frameworks and rapidly prototype document templates and editorial workflows without deep expertise in XML configuration syntax. The project is open-source and available on GitHub.