Authoring DTDs

DTDs are usually authored and maintained using either a text editor or an application designed specifically for DTD authoring.

DTD Editing Tools

For writing relatively simple and short DTDs, or for making isolated changes to an existing DTD, you can use Notepad or a similar program that allows you to edit and save files as text. For more extensive DTD editing, the following are some third party applications you might want to consider evaluating or purchasing:

• TurboXML – For more information, see TIBCO Extensibility.
• XML Spy – For more information, see XML Spy.
• Near & Far Designer – For more information, see Open Text.

DTD Bibliography

Authoring a solid DTD presents a number of design challenges. For more information about DTDs, you can consult the following references:

• St Laurent, S. and R. Biggar. 2000. Inside XML DTDs. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
• St Laurent, S. 2000. XML Elements of Style. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
• Maler, E. 1995. Developing SGML DTDs: From Text to Model to Markup. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

These books include detailed or advanced discussions of issues that affect DTD design. You might find them helpful if you need to learn about DTDs in more depth.

See Also

What is a DTD? | Introduction to DTD Syntax