eLML

eLML (eLesson Markup Language) is an open source XML framework for creating structured eLessons using XML. For easier lesson authoring eLML we offer the web-based WYSIWYG Firedocs eLML Editor and to create eLML template layouts withouth any XSLT-knowledge you can use our new Template Builder.

Check out the eLML-tools page for more useful software and check the download page for the latest eLML release.

The history behind eLML

Since eLML originally emerged from the GITTA project, let us begin with a short introduction about GITTA and its purpose:

"GITTA was funded by the SVC, a program initiated by the Swiss Confederation. In order to achieve a truly integrated Virtual Campus of relevant players in GIST education in Switzerland, the GITTA consortium, made up of 10 partners spread throughout the country, covers a wide variety of disciplines and specifically integrates contributions of partners from universities, federal institutes of technology, and universities of applied sciences within a multilingual distribution (German, French and Italian). " (Fisler 2006)

In comparison to other Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) projects, GITTA spent a lot of time evaluating the available technologies. When they started the project in 2001, they were not satisfied with the existing eLearning software that was available in the market. Most of them were expensive proprietary systems that let you put in some information (mostly as HTML code) but offered few possibilities to design your content or even export it to other platforms. These systems were not deemed sustainable by the project leader. Since the goal of GITTA was to integrate eLearning into the regular curriculum of the participating universities, they could not build the project on proprietary software.

After months of evaluation the solution was to use XML to store the content and open source software (Apache Cocoon was used back then) to serve it. Based on a selected pedagogical concept a DTD (later an XML Schema) was developed. It described exactly what a GITTA lesson could or should contain and in which order. After nearly three years of using and improving the GITTA structure a decision was taken to make both the XML Schema and the corresponding XSL files to create both HTML (XSLT) and PDF (XSL-FO) freely available. EduTech, whose mandate was to provide technological support for SVC projects, supported the idea both financially and through valuable input. The published XML Schema with the corresponding XSL files were created again from scratch based on the GITTA DTD that had been successfully used for the last three years but leaving out the drawbacks and bugs. The result was named eLML!

What is new in this release:

• The major new features are:
• eBook/iPad-Support plus a license change to Apache 2 license and the winning of the
• IMS Learning Impact Award silver medal.
• Some more detailed news:
• 1. Create eBooks directly from your lessons (for iPad etc.)
• 2. Create newer XHTML 1.1 Strict code
• 3. New and faster Firedocs 1.3 eLML Editor
• 4. New feature for referencing and highlighting content
• 5. Now supporting latest YAML 3.2 release
• 6. SCORM-transformation reworked and vastly improved

What is new in version 5.11:

• Even better SCORM implementation than in 5.1 :-) (Check compatibility list and screenshots on elml.org website)
• eLML website now offers a (Google) search box
• Changed eLML website address to elml.org (not elml.ch)
• imsmanifest-file has been optimized
• Linking to labels in other lesson now works if label is a unit, learningObject, summary or selfAssessment (#2092980)
• The popup solution text has been optimized (#2629595)
• Bugfixes in the link generation for next or previous page
• Fixed a bug in PDF where within columns the text would overlap the footer ( #2609240)
• The website has been updated (errors corrected, new screenshots etc.)
• Many other minor bugfixes

What is new in version 5.0:

• New tools for eLML available:
• Firedocs eLML Editor: A Mozilla Firefox plugin to edit your eLML lessons
• Template Builder: Create eLML layout templates using a simple webbrowser
• AddOn for Lenya and UniCMS: Import, manage, export and publish your lessons
• make4eLML Serverscripts: A set of shell scripts for eLML
• New transformation files:
• ODF Open Document Format (Open Office)
• DocBook
• LaTeX
• YAML now fully supported:
• Easy installation of YAML
• YAML-Support for transformation without layout
• column-element now transformed using YAML-subtemplates
• table-elemebnt optimized for YAML-display
• Lots of bugfixes
• Searchengine friendly:
• Sitemap.xml file (for Google etc.) automatically created
• Optimized < META >-tags in -part of HTML-file created (Both description- and keyword-tag are optimized)
• < title >-tag optimized for search engines
• All versions:
• Index now correctly supported (including all attributes)
• Icon Image format can be defined in configuration file (jpg, gif or png)
• Print/FO:
• New and hopefully better design of PDF (new fonts etc.)
• Better support for images (especially without specific height/width attributes)
• Many bugfixes
• Online:
• Lightwindow script for preview of large images included (can be turned on in configuration file, see documentation)
• Updated tooltip script for term-element
• New versions:
• ODF
• DocBook
• Bugfixes