TopLeaf XML Composition System

TopLeaf is an XML rendering system which allows any user to set up complex professional quality jobs using a revolutionary new point and click interface.

For the first time you can create paginated output, HTML for web delivery and RTF for review/proofing, all from a single style specification!

Download a FREE evaluation system

The system comes in two forms:

• The Windows Workstation allows you to set up and maintain publications, and run the typesetting to produce hard copy or PDF/HTML/RTF output.
• The TopLeaf Server (Windows/Unix/Linux) provides a simple high-level API, which can add full typesetting functionality to an existing application.

Features

All TopLeaf systems come with the following features as standard:

• Typesetting from single or multiple XML/SGML documents.
• A variety of typesetting functions such as footnotes (page or column), sidenotes, running heads, nested lists, tables, boxes, multiple graphic formats etc.
• Automatic production of tables of contents and indexes.
• Built-in PDF generation, including bookmarks and hyperlinks (internal and to the web).
• HTML and/or RTF output with no additional setup.
• Comprehensive support for true looseleaf publishing, including auto generation of insert pages and filing instructions.
• Graphical Page Layout editor.
• Stylesheet generator creates a basic stylesheet from a sample XML document to get you started. Or you can import existing TopLeaf or CSS stylesheets.

Click here to see some demonstrations of TopLeaf in action, or download an evaluation system.

TopLeaf and the Total Cost of Production

Everyone agrees that XML is the best way to future proof your content and maximize its capacity for re-use. Why then are so many people still using WYSIWYG editing systems that don't support multiple outputs? It all comes down to cost. Looking at a commonly used model for publishing XML gives us a clue to the reason.

The problem with this model is that it requires a separate XSLT script for each transformation. Such scripts are usually expensive to create and maintain, since they require skilled programmers. The end result is that XML is thought to be too expensive for some publications.

TopLeaf uses a different model to avoid this problem:

By using a single style description to produce multiple output formats, the total cost of production is brought under control. Furthermore, TopLeaf allows styles to be developed and maintained via a simple point and click interface -- no specialized skills are required!

For the first time, industrial strength single-source multiple-output publishing is available at a cost comparable to WYSIWYG publishing.

The Map Manager

TopLeaf has dispensed with traditional stylesheets, and instead allows the user to specify the page characteristics, headers and footers, and tag mappings via a series of point and click GUIs. For example the Map Manager controls the typesetting effects of tags in the input data, such as:

• Font size, style and color
• Paragraph horizontal and vertical indents
• Allocation of content to running heads, footnotes etc.
• Selection of page styles (double column, landscape etc)
• placement of tables, boxes, and graphics
• Generation of additional text and/or effects not present in the input.

In addition the Map Manager allows the creation of special user-defined tags called Custom Markers. These can be generated as required to augment the input markup to support almost any desired output style.

The Business Case

TopLeaf offers a means of achieving professional quality copy without the need for specialist programming or typesetting staff. TopLeaf's unique user interface and powerful typesetting engine allow complex jobs to be set up and maintained in a fraction of the time required by traditional methods. A price way below that of comparable systems, and the convenience of Australian maintenance and support (problems solved overnight for US/Europe), make TopLeaf the system of choice for any company which produces documentation for sale or for internal use.

Price List

Further Information

• TopLeaf 4-page brochure
• TopLeaf 2-page fact sheet