Font, colors, logos and even the interface design can all be separated from the content. The style information can then be added automatically when the document is requested. Keeping branding and style information separate, you can change the style in one place and the change is reflected everywhere. Our client also desired the ability to alter the document depending on who was reading it. A modular document design allows us to tackle these problems by delivering the appropriate mix of XML fragments about a subject, configured to match the user requirements.
Granularity is an important concern in a modular document design.
It represents the level at which you decide to 'chunk' your data into manageable and reusable segments. The trade off is between reuse, and configuration to the nth degree and the complexity of design required to make it happen. For this solution we decided to set the level of granularity to the 'topic' level. That is to say that approximately one page of information would represent one complete XML fragment. To set a lower level would have allowed more accuracy and control over the content, but would have increased implementation time.