Print is bedevilled with different data formats, programming languages and standards. Keeping up with them is a daily chore but it is extremely important to understand at least what your options are. This is particularly true if you are a sign- and display-maker working with companies that also place a lot of commercial print work. They are likely to prefer to stick with one format or another, usually some flavour of PDF.

It is unlikely in the sign and display business that you will come across the Job Definition Format (JDF), which is a specification rather than a standard used to manage device and system interconnectivity. JDF is written in the eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML), which is a programming language. XML itself is not a standard but there are loads of XML applications such as Office Open XML (OOXML). OOXML is a file format based on XML and developed by Microsoft. Sign-makers and display producers are unlikely to have much interest in OOXML (other than practising how to say it, a delightfully puerile exercise), but XML is the programming tool that makes all sorts of digital stuff work. It is a sort of digital lingua franca that can be used to connect disparate systems, databases, hardware and so on.

You'll see lots of XML applications in day-to-day work

XMP is somewhere in between JDF, an XML application and XML, the programming language used to write specifications and programmes. The eXtensible Metadata Platform is a bit like JDF in that it provides and helps manage information about a file or job. However, JDF is under the auspices of CIP4, the Committee for Prepress, Press, Postpress and Processing, whereas XMP was invented by Adobe and is in line to become an international standard.

For sign and display companies XMP may turn out to be as relevant as XML, because XMP data can be embedded in a file to provide the vital statistics of said file. That includes when, where and how the file was created, its author and history. The XMP standard, ISO 16684-1, is awaiting publication and two more bits of it are under development. Part two will provide tools for checking that XMP schema work properly. A schema is the thing that specifies how XMP elements should behave in a given environment. The third part deals with definitions for how XMP should be used in a user interface.

The thing to keep in mind when you march into a format and IT forest is that there are endless data formats and programming tools available. They may be fascinating and enhance your understanding of how the internet works or what makes a server farm tick, but they may not be relevant for your business. Keep the interesting distractions well away from the formats and languages that can aid your production throughput and workflow efficiencies.