Developing SGML DTDs: From Text To Model To Markup by Eve Maler and Jeanne El Andaloussi.
Maler and El Andaloussi summarize (1.2.4) the benefits of SGML this way:
To summarize, SGML markup is unique in that it combines several design strengths:
- It is declarative, which helps document producers “write once, use many”—putting the same document data to multiple uses, such as delivery of documents in a variety of online and paper formats and interchange with others who wish to use the documents in different ways.
- It is generic across systems and has a nonproprietary design, which helps make documents vendor and platform independent and “future-proof”—protecting them against changes in computer hardware and software.
- It is contextual, which heightens the quality and completeness of processing by allowing documents to be structurally validated and by enabling logical collections of data to be manipulated intelligently.
The characteristics of being declarative, generic, nonproprietary, and contextual make the Standard Generalized Markup Language “standard” and “generalized.”
A truly remarkable work that is as relevant today as it was twenty-three years ago.
Most important lesson: Understanding your document comes before designing markup. Every time.