formatvary

Formatvary is a term used in content engineering to refer to a formatting abstraction that manages variation across output formats. It treats presentation rules as separate from content data, enabling a single content source to be rendered in multiple target formats such as HTML, PDF, ePub, or plain text.

Origin and usage: The concept emerged in discussions about multi-channel publishing and is implemented as a library or framework that can be integrated into content management systems, static site generators, or document pipelines.

Core concepts: base format model, format profiles, templates, and transformers. The base model defines content fields and their semantic meaning. Format profiles specify how those fields map to formatting primitives for a given target format. Templates provide concrete markup or styling for each profile. A transformer applies the mapping to produce the final output.

Workflow: Authors create content once in a structured form. Editors or developers create format profiles for each target delivery channel. During rendering, the system selects the appropriate profile and applies templates to generate the desired output.

Benefits and limitations: Benefits include improved consistency across formats, reduced content duplication, and easier localization. Limitations include upfront design complexity, potential performance costs, and the need for disciplined content modeling to realize the full advantages.

Examples: A news site uses formatvary to render articles for the web, print, and a mobile app, each with its own profile and templates. A documentation site generates both HTML and printable PDFs from the same source material.

See also: templating engines, content modeling, style sheets.