Serializing the Locator Format of the United States Government Publishing Office as XML

Abstract

The Government Publishing Office makes significant use of so-called locators, a specialized file format for commercial typography. In this article, I explain the origins of the locator format, discuss its architecture, and single out some of the challenges inherent in understanding and converting the format. I present Slax, Serializing Locators as XML, an expression of the locator format in XML and an application that makes the conversion. In telling the story of the locator format, which is poorly documented, I argue that it developed slowly over time as user expectations changed, and in tandem with its primary processor, MicroComp. Slax also provides an excellent example of where XSLT is an ideal technology for document conversion, and where it is not, and provides a model for the symbiotic use of declarative and imperative programming models.