XSL-FO Style Sheet Development

Suite Solutions develops and implements XSL-FO style sheets for publishing your DITA, S1000D and other XML doctypes into completely formatted PDF publications. The style sheets may be used stand-alone or can be integrated with a CMS tool chain.

We work with you to fully understand your requirements and formalize them into a statement of work (SOW) before we begin the development stage. A variety of source documents can be provided as a benchmark for determining the design and look and feel of the XSL-FO style sheets.

Optimization for Localization - We have extensive experience in optimizing the style sheets to support multiple languages and their particular requirements, including the more complex far eastern languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean) as well as bidirectional text (e.g. Arabic and Hebrew). We also support advanced index sorting for Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and other languages which require complex sorting algorithms.

Modular Design – Style sheets are designed to be modular and easy to maintain. Although we provide ongoing support and maintenance, our goal is to provide you with the ability to function independently.

Multiple Outputs – We can design a single set of style sheets to produce multiple outputs. For example, the style sheets can be parameterized to support for-print and online publication versions, with or without change bars, draft or release versions, etc.

Support for XSL-FO Formatting Engines – We support a range of formatting engines including Antenna House XSL Formatter, RenderX and others.

Robust DITA Support – Our style sheets can support the most updated DITA standard and any specializations that you implement. Style sheets are based on the latest versions of the DITA Open Source Toolkit and FO plug-in.

Integration with Content Management Systems (CMS) – We have a good working relationship and experience with many CMS solution vendors. We will work with any CMS vendor to integrate your style sheets, including passing publication parameters and output options, implementing filtering and conditional processing, passing language information and providing for any other implementation requirements.

Ongoing Maintenance

Although you may maintain your style sheets independently, we also offer a convenient and cost-effective ongoing maintenance option. Our maintenance plan includes:

• Constant monitoring of various bug fixes, patches and upgrades to the XSL-FO rendering software, updates to the relevant standards (DITA, S1000D, etc.), updates to the DITA Open Source Toolkit and FO plug-in and other related technologies. We make sure your style sheets are updated to work with the updated software and technologies.

• Suggestions and implementations of upgrades to the style sheets as new functionality becomes available by the rendering engine and standards.

• Ongoing formatting modifications to your output upon request.

• An online ticket-tracking system for change requests and progress.

Updates are always scheduled to ensure the style sheets are tested and work properly with new configurations.