XML authoring/cms tool

Question

I am trying to find a good open source XML authoring tool so the work flow between the client and the developers will be a bit more streamlined.

We are basically developing a lot of XML driven micro websites for various clients and products. And often the clients want to have a little content change here and there. Sometimes just to change an capital letter or very unspecific stuff. So they end up sending us an email with a word document containing their updates. And then we lose some time again to publish those updates. It's not a lot of effort, but it still has to be made.

We were wondering, before making it ourselves, if there is a simple XML authoring/cms system out there. Where the developer could simply pick the editable fields/nodes and turn it to a simple but straightforward CMS for the client.

Answer 1

Best I ever used was XML Spy.

Expensive but worth every penny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMLSpy

Answer 2

Xml Notepad 2007 is a good free XML editor that includes support for schema validation and applying transforms. It's open source from Microsoft.

Answer 3

A combination of Altova XMLSpy (expensive, but worth it), Altova Stylevision (expensive, but worth it) and Altova Authentic (free):

1. Your devs create the XML schema in XMLSpy.
2. They then create a "form" design in Stylevision for the XML.
3. Then, the end-users open the XML files with Authentic and see a MS Word-like interface for modifying the files.

I used this setup on a project a while back and the Authentic side was so easy that I had an upper-level manager (non tech) and his administrative assistant build out the data for the entire project without my hand-holding.

Answer 4

Sounds like you are looking something similar to http://www.cushycms.com/ but for xml. Im not sure if cushycms works with xml, but it is very simple to overlay over standard html.

Answer 5

Xopus is a browser based XML editor designed for non-technical people. Since is it fully validating, it is really useful for this kind of task. To ease your job even more, it supports change tracking to see exactly what your clients have changed.