Document Models

Exchanging electronic texts in different formats has been a problem for many years. For example, it is difficult to convert a TeX document into an MS Word document. Proprietary solutions exist for specific purposes, but their application is restricted to a limited community of users. A truly universal for document archival consists of the use of a number of standards for document models. This article describes the standards that have been recently adopted in that area : SGML, CALS, HTML, XML, HyTime, DSSSL, CSS, MHEG and PREMO. Together, they attempt to solve the problem of interchanging and reusing composite documents.