aXSL (pronounced "axle"), is an open-source API for processing XSL-FO documents. XSL-FO is an XML-based standard for describing the format of document content. The main purpose of aXSL is to promote, to the extent possible, reuse and consistency between various XSL-FO implementations. It is possible that some of the standards will be useful for general document processing (i.e. non-XSL-FO) as well.
There are some potential benefits to both users and developers of XSL-FO processors for standardization, including more consistent configuration, more consistent stylesheets, and interchangeable components. In addition, well-conceived standards may be helpful to the W3C as it develops future official standards, especially in the area of extensions.
The following are possible areas where XSL-FO processing might benefit from standards:
In addition to written standards, it is the goal of aXSL to deliver usable interfaces and abstract classes for at least the java programming language.
aXSL is licensed under the Apache License 2.0, which means that it can be freely used and modified for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
aXSL was launched on November 4, 2004. If you are interested in participating in the design of aXSL, or have questions about how to use it, please subscribe to the aXSL User Mailing List. To track project activity, you may also subscribe to the aXSL Commit Mailing List, which sends an email of the log for each repository commit.