You might or you might not have heard of the XPS document format. Basically, it is a “device-independent”, -XML-based paginated fixed-layout-, document format. It was designed by Microsoft as a direct challenge to the PDF format. You will find below a few excerpts from related Web pages. What is of interest to you Atlantis users, is that XPS documents can easily be created from Atlantis under Windows XP or Vista. If you are running Windows Vista, support for the XPS format is native. If you are running Windows XP, you only have to download and install the “XPS Essentials Pack” from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en
When you have installed what is essentially a virtual printer driver, you can save documents created in Atlantis as XPS documents. Here is how to proceed:
1. Create a RTF or DOC document in Atlantis.
2. Click “File | Print…” (Ctrl+P)
3. In the “Print” dialog, pull down the “Printers” list (“Name” box), and select “Microsoft XPS Document Writer”.
4. OK out of the “Print” dialog.
A corresponding XPS document will automatically be saved to your hard drive. It can be viewed by double-clicking on its file name in Windows Explorer.
Note that the XPS Viewer is installed as a component of Internet Explorer. In other words, the XPS documents are viewed in Internet Explorer windows. They look and feel like PDFs.
HTH.
Cheers,
Robert
For a comparison of XPS with other similar formats, see Comparison of PDF, XPS and ODF by an ISV providing PDF solutions at http://www.amyuni.com/blog/?p=8
Here is from http://www.marclironblog.com/microsoft/ ... nt-format/
From http://www.investintech.com/xpscentral/whatisxps/Introducing The Microsoft XPS Document Format
Ever since the first PC printers appeared, designing a proper file format that could be used for exchanging, viewing, editing and of course actual printing files has been an ongoing challenge.
Adobe started it with PostScript and, later, PDF. Older Windows versions used the EMF — Enhanced MetaFile format. However, the continuous advances in printing technology challenged Microsoft to design a new format: XPS — the XML Paper Specification format.
XPS is an XML-based document description language, similar in principle to Adobe’s PS (PostScript).
XPS can be used to completely describe a document, both in terms how it is to be printed, and in terms of what has to be printed (i.e. the actual content). An XPS file is a ZIP archive of an XML (or, to be more precise for the tech-minded, XAML) file. XML is a special language itself, which has been preferred because it is well-established and easy to use by computer programs.
By using XML, XPS can describe the document in a resolution-independent, vector-based manner. In other words, this means that every part of the document (even individual letters and small images) are stored so that they will not lose any quality when the image is enlarged or shrunk. As a consequence, your XPS documents will look just as well on a business card-sized paper and on an A3 poster.
Furthermore, XPS has a number of special facilities which make it especially appealing to those who work with graphics-intensive documents. Besides support for gradients or transparency, XPS also supports the Windows Color System management technology. As a consequence, there will be no loss of color quality and no color change when viewing XPS documents on different systems — a problem EMF was particularly vulnerable to.
Windows Vista makes use of XPS in two ways. First of all, XPS is intended as a document viewing format, using the free Microsoft XPS Viewer that ships with Vista. The XPS Viewer allows you to view any XPS file, but this is not where the real strength of XPS comes from. XPS can also be used as a print format, meaning that printers can use XPS to describe documents internally.
The prerequisite for this is that XPS must be able to describe anything that can ever be printed. As a consequence, XPS can be used for anything. It is not a format specialized for text documents, like Word’s .doc format — but can effectively be used for books, posters, flyers, diagrams, circuit schematics, house plans or raster images like screenshots or paintings.
Therefore, XPS is a very effective file exchange format.
Since XPS can render any type of data, and is tightly integrated with Vista, users can exchange XPS files, with the guarantee that they will look the same on any system. Since XPS is standard, a file printed in XPS format on a Windows computer will look the same on another system, even if the program that generated it is not installed. Every program can generate an XPS file by printing to a special, simulated printer. This appears like a regular printer in the printers list, but internally, Windows uses it to generate an XPS file.
XPS is rapidly being adopted by several major companies, including Sharp and HP. Therefore, it is safe to expect that it will soon be a widespread format.
The free XPS viewer is also available, as a download for Windows XP SP2 computers, from the main Microsoft website.
Give it a try…
Regards
Marc Liron
Microsoft MVP
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML_Paper_SpecificationWhat is XPS?
The XML Paper Specification (XPS) format is basically an electronic representation of digital documents based on XML. It is a paginated fixed-layout format that retains the look and feel of your electronic documents. As a form of electronic paper, the XPS format provides a way in which you can easily create, share, print and save digital documents. Although XPS Documents can be easily created once you have the right software installed, just like the PDF, the XPS format is a difficult-to-handle format.
Interacting with an XPS Document is difficult because the format is primarily focused upon document fidelity, data accuracy, file size and compression schemes, elements that are important to generating high quality print output. Thus, XPS Documents can neither be manipulated nor edited easily, and can only be viewed on computer systems that have an XPS Viewer installed. As such, an XPS file is ultimately a final document format ideal for publishing, archiving and transmitting.
The format is now available and accessible from within all Windows applications. Of course, one of the keys benefits of the XPS Document is this integration into Windows operating systems, which makes XPS Documents easy to deploy. This allows all end users to take advantage of XPS technology and the document format simply by upgrading their software.
From http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... s/xps.aspxFeatures
XPS specifies a set of document layout functionality for paged, printable documents. It also has support for features such as color gradients, transparencies, CMYK color spaces, printer calibration, multiple-ink systems and print schemas. XPS supports the Windows Color System color management technology for color conversion precision across devices and higher dynamic range. It also includes a software raster image processor (RIP) which is downloadable separately.[1] The print subsystem also has support for named colors, simplifying color definition for images transmitted to printers supporting those colors.
XPS also supports HD Photo images natively for raster images.[2] The XPS format used in the spool file represents advanced graphics effects such as 3D images, glow effects, and gradients as Windows Presentation Foundation primitives, which are processed by the printer drivers without rasterization, preventing rendering artifacts and reducing computational load.
Similarities with PDF and PostScript
Like Adobe Systems's PDF format, XPS is a fixed-layout document format designed to preserve document fidelity,[3] providing device-independent documents appearance. PDF is a database of objects, created from PostScript and also directly generated from many applications, whereas XPS is based on XML. The filter pipeline architecture of XPS is also similar to the one used in printers supporting the PostScript page description language. PDF includes dynamic capabilities not supported by the XPS format.[4]
Microsoft has submitted the XPS specification to Ecma.[5]
Viewing and creating XPS documents
Because the printing architecture of Windows Vista uses XPS as the spooler format,[3] it has native support for generating and reading XPS documents.[6] XPS documents can be created by printing to the virtual XPS printer driver. The XPS Viewer is installed by default in Windows Vista. The viewer is hosted within Internet Explorer 7. This Internet Explorer-hosted viewer and the XPS Document Writer are also available to Windows XP users when they download the .NET Framework 3.0. The IE-hosted viewer supports digital rights management and digital signatures. For users who do not wish to view XPS documents in the browser, they can download the XPS Essentials Pack,[7] which includes a standalone viewer and the XPS Document Writer. The XPS Essentials Pack also includes providers to enable the IPreview and IFilter capabilities used by Windows Desktop Search, as well as shell handlers to enable thumbnail views and file properties for XPS documents in Windows Explorer. The standalone viewer, however, does not support digital signatures.[8] The XPS Essentials Pack is available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista.[8] Installing down-level XPS support enables operating systems prior to Windows Vista to use the XPS print processor, instead of the GDI-based WinPrint, which can produce better quality prints for printers that support XPS in hardware (directly consume the format).[9] The print spooler format on these operating systems, however, remains unchanged. The beta version of Windows 7 contain a standalone version of the XPS viewer that supports digital signatures.
XPS documents
An XPS document is a new Microsoft document format that you can use to archive content in a standardized format or publish content in an easily viewable form. You can also use this format to ensure that no one is able to edit your original work.
Download the XPS Viewer for Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/viewxps.mspx)
XPS document creation
With Windows Vista or Microsoft .NET 3.0 installed on Windows XP, you can easily create XPS documents from virtually any application using the Microsoft XPS Document Writer.
XPS Document Writer
Whether you are working with documents in Microsoft Word, photos in Microsoft Paint, or a web order form being viewed in Internet Explorer, if the application has the ability to print, then the Microsoft XPS Document Writer will be available through the Print dialog of the application.
XPS document viewing
The XPS Viewer is installed by default in Windows Vista, so you can quickly and easily open a document created with the XPS document format. The viewer is hosted within Internet Explorer 7. This Internet Explorer-hosted viewer is also available to Windows XP users when they download the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... layLang=en). For Windows XP users who only wish to view or create XPS documents, and thus do not need the full .NET Framework, they can download the smaller XPS Essentials Pack (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/viewxps.mspx).
High-fidelity onscreen graphics
XPS documents feature support for high-fidelity text and graphics. When the document is magnified, the text always appears smooth, clear, and accurate at any size.
In Windows Vista, XPS is the basis for the new printing infrastructure, and when paired with an XPS-enabled printer, you get a truly next-generation printing experience.