XML Editors Overview and the Challenge to Build XML-Oriented Editor for Mediaeval Manuscript Descriptions

* The research presented here is partially supported by the project KT-DigiCult-Bg (FP6) and by the ICT Agency in Bulgaria.

The paper presents an overview of XML and software tools for its use, with an emphasis on XML editors. Based on the experience of two Bulgarian projects on preparing electronic descriptions of mediaeval manuscripts from the 1990es, we define the following requirements to the editor used for manuscript cataloguing: minimum elements on the screen; arrangement of elements according to the practice in the subject domain; supplying default values whenever this is possible; supplying possible values in combo boxes whenever this is possible; and ease of data entry (in Bulgarian with possibility to enter mediaeval text fragments in Old Cyrillic). These requirements were taken into account for the development of a specialized editor, XEditMan, which is presented in the article. Currently, 200 descriptions of manuscripts are available which were entered and edited using XEditMan. The average time for data entry with the editor is about three times less than the time spent in previously used software tools in Bulgaria.