How Document Assistant Works

As documents are created or updated, Document Assistant first converts them into XML, the Extensible Markup Language, a markup “meta-language” that allows the design of limitless different types of documents. Document Assistant then transfers it into the format specific for the Web site using the open, non-proprietary XSLT, Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations, process for converting XML documents.

Because the data formats and conversion engines are open source, users need never fear being locked into a proprietary, vendor-specific architecture and are guaranteed the most advanced format conversion technologies available on the market today.

Activating the powerful features of Document Assistant couldn’t be easier: users simply save their content from their working application into a Web folder. Document Assistant handles all the rest to prepare the content for Web publishing.

Far More Powerful than “Save to Web” Features

Far more powerful than the “Save as Web Page” feature found in most Office applications, Document Assistant eliminates the need for additional manual tweaking of the output code with which many Webmasters are all-too familiar. Even the “Convert to XML” feature found in the latest versions of MS Office and other programs does not finish the task of preparing content for Web publication. In contrast, Document Assistant performs all the format translations needed for a specific Web site.

Document Assistant also eliminates the time-consuming “cut-and-paste” method of entering Web content into a content management system. And, since Document Assistant is a server-side solution, there is no need to configure PC clients with a new software module.

The business case for Document Assistant is clear - conventional content management systems require a lot of effort and expense in training users on new applications. With the Document Assistant module, users can now apply existing business applications to the process of creating and updating content for their sites.

A complete list of file formats supported by the Expressroom Document Assistant is found here.