Reply To: XML as a deliverable from InDesign

I've been working for a while now on XML deliverables for a big publisher we work for (quite possibly the same one as you). Short answer: no, there is no way to produce this XML without a hell of a lot of fiddly work.

We tried working with XML tags in InDesign, but very quickly found that they were far too limited for what we needed. A much better place to start is with an IDML file, which is very well-formed XML, but even then there's a heck of a lot of work involved in making sure the files are pristine and impeccably styled.

Not being programmers, we use a consultant for the conversion to XML compliant with the publisher's DTD. I can put you in touch with him if you like?