Metafile for Interactive Documents, Version 2.0: Application Guide and DraftPerformance Specification for the Encoding of Interactive Documents

摘要

The Metafile for Interactive Documents (MID) is a proposed standard for portableinteractive electronic documents. Developed in response to a Department of the Navy RD initiative, MID solves existing problems with interoperability of hypermedia applications such as Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs). MID fills the gap in current standards for IETMs, which focus on the structure of the source database and how the presentation should look. What is missing is an interchange language to standardize the path from source information to presentation, while preserving the logic governing user interactions. Using the international standards SGML (ISO 8879) and HyTime (ISO 10744), MID defines this missing interchange structure. Although initiated by IETM interoperability problems within the Navy, the MID was designed for general application to any interactive hypermedia document that requires conditional navigation. The MID Application Guide includes the annotated MID Document Type Definition (DTD) and explains how the design team intended the DTD to be implemented. Descriptions of each DTD element are provided. The Application Guide also includes an introduction to the MID concept and its goals, a processable MID DTD, and examples. For additional information about MID and to download a sample application, visit these Web sites: http://navycals. dt.navy.mil/mid/mid.html and http://www.nawcsti.navy.mil.