Content published in an online or e-book format uses markup language to define its appearance, behavior, and metadata. I have worked with tagging for SGML-based proprietary languages, XML, and HTML. XML can endow content with values and complex relationships. E-reader files, such as Kindle and E-PUB use modified HTML, which can be customized (within limits) to produce high-quality, polished, and stylistically interesting e-books. Web pages and blogs also use HTML markup.
LaTex is a markup language popular with science and technology publishers and grad students. It is a versatile and elegant plain text alternative to Word for producing attractive, complex documents.
Documents containing markup languages can pose a problem for authors and publishers who need the content edited without the risk of inadvertant changes being made to the markup. A PDF can be output for the copyeditor to work with, but this introduces a time-consuming step—someone will have to go into the document files and make the edits that have been marked on the PDF. I can work directly in the text files, preserving the markup and addressing tagging errors. On request, I can also supply a document that shows the edits so they can be approved or rejected by the client.
