Draft:Arbortext Editor

• Comment: Promotional / subjective language throughout, ex:
  "Today, Arbortext remains a key player in structured content authoring and publishing, offering solutions for industries requiring high-precision documentation, including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing. - a statement like this would need at least one citation from an independent, secondary reliable source
  "...For example, Editor has more than one way to do just about everything a professional technical author needs in navigating to create" this is a bit awkwardly phrased but it sounds like an advertisement rather than the neutral, formal tone we use on Wikipedia (see WP:NPOV)
  Thank you, Zzz plant (talk) 04:10, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

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Arbortext Editor is a sophisticated SGML and XML editing software tool for technical writers and publishing professionals who need to create and manage complex structured documentation suitable for reuse and automated publishing.

Arbortext Editor was designed to respond to individual user needs. With an emphasis on the user experience, PTC’s Editor tool resembles a simple word processor with UI configuration options that allow users to navigate through menu selection, icon selection, or hot key combinations. In addition, Editor has an API that allows users to customize the user interface and add new functionality .

History

Arborext, founded initially as Textset on December 20, 1982, by Dave Rodgers, Paul Grosso, and Jim Sterken, began as a contract typesetting services business utilizing TeX-based tools. Initially operating out of the University of Michigan Computing Center while the founders maintained full-time jobs, Arbortext soon received its first investment in 1983 and transitioned to full-time operations in 1984.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Arbortext played a significant role in adopting and advancing SGML and XML publishing tools. The company released its first product, The Publisher, in 1987 and later developed the SGML-based Adept Series, transitioning from academic to commercial markets. With the 1987 release, Arbortext became  one of the few desktop editing and publishing tools that supported equation editing

Arbortext was developed on Galaxy, a multi-platform development environment by Visix Software. Galaxy was similar to Java in that it allowed you to write cross-platform graphical user interfaces with localization support for multiple languages. With Galaxy, early versions of Adept editor ran natively on both Solaris and Windows.

By the late 1990s, Arbortext co-authored the XML standard for W3C alongside Microsoft and Inso solidifying its position in structured content publishing. Eve Maler from ArborText was part of the S3C XML Working Group from the beginning.

In 1997, Arbortext, Microsoft, Inso, James Clark, and Henry Thompson, proposed XSL (Extensible Style Language) submitted to the W3C.

In 1999, the company introduced the Epic Series, marking the shift to XML-based authoring and publishing frameworks. Arbortext opened international offices and secured major contracts with companies like Caterpillar, John Deere, and Pfizer. The company continued to innovate, integrating its publishing tools with Oracle, IBM, RWS Contenta and other enterprise systems.

Arbortext was part of the OASIS Tables Technical Committee. Norm Walsh, working at Arbortext at the time, was the committee chair. The committee produced the XML Exchange Table Model Document Type Definition which was the XML expression of the CALS table Model Document Type Definition. The CALS table is still in use as the foundation for complex table markup in many document types today.

In 2004, Arbortext acquired the UK based company called Advent Publishing System. Advent3B2 was renamed Advanced Print Publisher (APP), and its product line integrated into the Arbortext product suite, extending the benefits of enterprise publishing to design-intensive and complex documents such as financial reports, marketing collateral, consumer catalogs, directories and journals.

In 2005, PTC acquired Arbortext, which rebranded its product suite under the Arbortext name, integrating solutions such as Advanced Print Publisher, IsoDraw, and IsoView. Further acquisitions bolstered its aerospace, defense, and service lifecycle management offerings. The brand continued evolving through the 2010s, embracing cloud technologies and digital service solutions. By 2018, Arbortext had formed its own Business Unit within PTC, with a growing presence in content delivery and structured documentation tools.

Arbortext and DITA

Arbortext played a significant role in the development of the DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) standards. DITA is an XML-based architecture for publishing technical information. It allows for topic-oriented, reusable content and supports creating new information types based on existing ones. Arbortext Editor provides tools for authoring and publishing DITA documents, including DITA topics and maps.

Since DITA's earliest days, Arbortext has been instrumental in the adoption and evolution of DITA standards, providing robust tools for creating and managing technical documentation.

• DITA was pioneered at IBM and Arbortext was the primary XML authoring tool used during its development.
• IBM contributed DITA to the community under the auspices of OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
• Arbortext was the first vendor to support DITA at IBM and the first to deliver a complete DITA solution
• Arbortext’s Paul Grosso participated as a founding member of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee.
• Arbortext continues to support DITA with features like legacy content conversion, authoring support, link management, and integrated review cycles.

Products

The current Arbortext products include tools for the creation and delivery of technical publications and illustrations. The most commonly known Arbortext products include:

• Arbortext Editor - for authoring SGML/XML documents
• Arbortext Styler - a GUI for creating simple to complex stylesheets for publishing to o PDF, Web, Word, HTML, and other formats
• Arbortext Desktop Publisher (formerly Print Composer) - for rendering XML/SGML source files into PDF, Web, Word, HTML, and other formats
• Arbortext Publishing Engine - a server-based application for assembling and publishing content to PDF, Web, Word, HTML, and other formats. It supports publishing content with FOSI, Styler, and XSL stylesheets.
• Arbortext Architect - used for creating new document-type definitions (DTD) or XML Schemas. It also supports the creation and development of FOSI stylesheets.
• Arbortext Layout Editor - for a more desktop-publishing style user interface to publishing. It provides a more accessible version to users who create or finish print documents by hand.
• Arbortext IsoDraw - for high-quality illustrations and animations from real-time CAD data

Industry Standards

Arbortext supports industry standards like DocBook, DITA, S1000D, MIL-STD 40051, MIL-STD 30001, ATA, and many more.

Arbortext API

All Arbortext products include an extensive API that allows users to customize the user interface and add new functions. The API can be accessed through its own command language (ACL) or a Java library. Arbortext Styler, Advanced Print Publisher, and Arbortext Layout Developer can also be manipulated with Perl.

References

Category:XML editors Category:Technical communication tools