AT LAST WEEK'S Seybold Seminars Publishing 2000 conference, executives from major Web publishing vendors trumpeted XML central to that industry's future, while pledging broader product support for the specification.

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Because it does not require standardized interfaces or specific programming tools, XML is viewed by many vendors, Web designers, and programmers as a superior method of exchanging data over the Internet, according to officials at the conference.

Additionally, use of such an agnostic language ultimately could lead to a drop in the cost of Web publishing by 30 percent to 50 percent and a significant reduction in the time it takes to produce sites, according to Tim Gill, chairman and chief technical officer of Quark, who gave a keynote speech at Seybold.

XML furthermore gives the Web an advantage over traditional print, Gill suggested.

"I don't believe that there is any innovation in print that is going to save us even 10 percent in costs," he said, adding that this is a key reason why venture capitalists have fled from traditional print to Web publishers.

Gill was quick to add that he is not suggesting that traditional print will fade away, but the cost savings that will accrue to Web publishers with what he called the "wholesale adoption of XML" will create opportunities for companies to make money through Internet publishing. Companies will be able to resell their content as well as get content from other publishers more easily.

"When you're talking about the publishing arena, the Web is this unbelievable publishing media which is enabling anybody to actually be able to publish their content online," said Sally Khudairi, CEO of Boston-based ZOT Group, a Web strategy consultancy. "Basically, the roof has been ripped off, and [XML is] enabling many industries that haven't been able to take their proprietary interchange formats online to do that."

Another theme at Seybold was that successful Web publishers will make their sites more interactive, with plenty of reader input, and will offer graphically interesting sites that load quickly. The explosion in Internet access devices other than PCs also was a factor, with vendors showing off products that enable handhelds and the like to access and display more than just text.

For instance, Adobe Systems and Palm Computing said they will integrate Adobe PDF technologies into the Palm platform. As a result, Palm users will be able to use their devices for electronic books and a wider range of documents.

Adobe officials showed off a number of new technologies and upcoming products, including a server software project code-named Stilton, which allows Web publishers to remotely manage their work flow.