The generation of web documents has become a centerpiece of many activities. Rare are nowadays the software programs that do not offer, at least as an option, to publish their documents in a web-publishable format. Most quick solutions, however, do not seem to be able to fully respond to the expectations of both authors, web publishers and end users, in that the resulting content is often overloaded, not very flexible and often browser-dependant. The present document describes the process of preparing and publishing web documents from the perspective of the author.

Classical publishing process

Not so long ago, the only way to produce and publish a document used to be a totally linear process, in which the authors or authors prepared a manuscript, that was transferred to the publisher, who edited the manuscript, correcting possible mistakes and enhancing the text. After this, the publisher transmitted the manuscript to the printer, who formatted the document for printing, prepared a lead or offset negative, which was then run through the printing press. Finally, the document was folded into folios, bound and cut. Figure 1 illustrate the classical editing process, as it as valid from the invention of printing up to now.

Figure 1: Classical editing process