robin@txsil.lonestar.org (Robin Cover) (12/18/90)
USENET readers may be willing to overlook the marketing language in the following announcement upon reading that DynaText may be obtained "for an 80% discount off the standard list price" under qualifying conditions. I hold no stock in the company, but obviously I think it's one of the most promising examples of "academic" SGML software (smart retrieval, dynamic display) currently available. Robin Cover ====================================================================== DynaText(tm) Academic Discount Program Providence, RI -- November 26, 1990 Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. (EBT), is today announcing that DynaText, its Electronic Book Publishing System and Browser, will be made available to qualified research and academic organizations at a substantial discount. The goal is to increase research activity and stimulate the formation of related standards in the application of ISO Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) for hypermedia publishing. "There is significant interest in using SGML as an effective means of electronic information delivery, especially within large industries such as Aircraft, Telecommunications and Government. These industries will be looking to the research community for help and guidance as they begin to apply this technology to real world problems," said Louis R. Reynolds, EBT Founder/CEO. "Since the announcement of DynaText in August of 1990, EBT has had numerous requests from research organizations engaged in SGML encoding and electronic publishing activities. In addition, EBTs close ties with Brown University's Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) have made us aware of the value of advanced hypertext research. Therefore, we felt it was important to provide this community with access to DynaText at an affordable price," Mr. Reynolds, concluded. In the short time it has been available, DynaText has been hailed by many as the 'missing link' or 'the first truly useful SGML application.' DynaText was specifically designed as a hypertext browser for large scale SGML documents. DynaText accepts valid SGML documents and automatically builds a dynamic table of contents that is used as one of the primary means of navigating through the material. Unlike its printed counterpart, and like many high-end outline processors, this table of contents can be expanded and collapsed providing an appropriate level of detail for the reader. Clicking on an item in this list automatically scrolls an associated text view of the document to the corresponding section. DynaText uses SGML tags to automatically generate hyperlinks to associated material such as diagrams, tables, and explicit cross references. This allows readers to quickly reference related material through simple mouse clicks. DynaText is an open system that is not bound to any specific SGML tag set, and allows users to add their own link types/behavior through simple style sheet entries. This mechanism can be employed by users who want to create dynamic multi-media documents. DynaText also builds a full text index of the SGML document and (unlike other indexers that simply report occurrences within an entire document) can report occurrences within SGML components. This provides an unprecedented level of search precision that enables users to find terms within the relevant sections of the document quickly. Wild cards and regular expressions can be used in conjunction with simple boolean queries, further increasing search power and eliminating the need for exact string matches. Qualified non-commercial research organizations that are willing to publish the results of their DynaText applications will be able to purchase the system for an 80% discount off the standard list price (or as low as $2,500). DynaText is currently available for the SPARC family running Sun OS 4.1 and Xwindows and is planned for MSWindows 3.0 in the first half of 1991. EBT can be contacted for further information at the following address: In the U.S. : Electronic Book Technologies, Inc. One Richmond Square Providence, RI 02906 Tel:(401) 421-9550, Fax:(401) 421-9551 In Europe: EBT International 20, Pre de la Ferme 1261 Gingins, Switzerland Tel: 41-22-69-24-24, Fax:41-22-69-24-25 Email: ebt-inc!info@uunet.uu.net (or) lrr@iris.brown.edu