Project Orion: The future of XML authoring and editorial
Typefi is leveraging our long partnership with Inera, input from our existing clients that use eXtyles, and 20+ years of experience developing Word-to-XML solutions to build a next-generation suite of XML authoring and editorial tools.
Our goal is to match the capabilities of eXtyles while improving in several important areas. We’re on track for launch by the end of 2025.
If you’d like to receive project updates, please join our community.
Project Orion is a significant upgrade, offering key advancements designed to enhance your workflows.
Convert Word to XML
Using Orion, you can quickly convert Word documents into industry-standard XML formats, including JATS, BITS, and NISO STS. Orion can also be adapted to output high-quality XML in nearly any schema, including those required by the Silverchair Platform.
Work in Microsoft Word
Orion’s Microsoft Word Add-in fits right in with Word’s existing interface as another tab in the toolbar. All the tools and features are right there, so it’s quick and easy to start working right away. The add-in can also be easily customised based on user roles and project requirements.
Accelerate production
Time is critical in publishing, and Project Orion is built for speed. It delivers significantly faster processing times compared to eXtyles, which reduces bottlenecks and helps get your content published faster.
Native change tracking
Project Orion offers native change tracking, eliminating the need for time-consuming whole-document comparisons often required by eXtyles to identify changes made by automated rules. This significantly improves efficiency and streamlines the review process.
Self-service customisation
Project Orion empowers you to customise the system in-house, without waiting for vendor builds. You can easily tailor the interface to specific workflows and user preferences, adjust metadata fields and style groups, and manage users at any time.
Robust reference management
Inera Edifix is integrated with Orion, which enables you to easily validate your references against databases like Crossref and PubMed. Orion also automatically creates clickable links within your references, which saves you time.
Recent updates
The team is hard at work on Project Orion! We’ll post updates here as new features are completed. Check out the videos below to see our progress and the latest developments.
It’s easy to modify all aspects of Style Groups and Document Info (metadata) from Orion’s server interface. You can quickly add new styles or data fields, configure them, and change order with a simple drag-and-drop, then instantly push those changes to every user in your organisation at the same time. This significantly reduces the time and effort required to deploy and configure Orion.
Watch as Guy van der Kolk, Typefi Product Manager, demonstrates Project Orion’s Auto-Replace feature. It’s similar to the Auto-Redact feature in eXtyles, but with a twist! Auto-Replace sends the document to our cloud-based server, where we use XSLT to preserve tracked changes. Once Auto-Replace is complete, the document refreshes and you’ll see your redactions clearly marked.
Typefi has a long history with Inera—they’ve been our partner since 2006. A large number of Typefi clients use eXtyles right now, so we understand why eXtyles is important and the myriad ways it’s crucial to your business.
Our goal is to carry forward the eXtyles legacy with a product that matches the critical features while improving in several key areas.
That’s why we’re building Project Orion. Will you partner with us?
Orion’s Automated Rules Engine enables you to create pre-defined rules, then use them to automatically identify and correct formatting and style errors. It will mark areas where text may not adhere to style guidelines or best practices and recommend fixes.
Orion provides guidance and context for each identified issue. eXtyles often relied on simple notifications, potentially leading to confusion or unnecessary manual intervention.
Theeditor is always in control. You can easily override Orion’s suggestions to ensure that the final output perfectly matches your desired style and voice. eXtyles was less flexible and could sometimes cause unintended changes.
Easily collaborate and customise
With Orion, your team can easily collaborate without leaving Word. Comments and tracked changes are preserved so you can quickly get back into your workflow during the editorial process.
Orion also plays nicely with other common tools you use including style checkers, grammar checkers, and proofreading software so you can keep working the way you like.
Orion’s core content transformation engine provides a robust and flexible foundation using XSLT, XPath, and regular expressions. It’s possible to extend these libraries to implement custom rules or journal-specific metadata fields.
Typefi block grouping
Meet the Project Orion team
Our team has decades of experience building XML-driven publishing solutions.
Tech Lead | Sri Lanka
Apsara Abeysiriwardana
VP Product + New Markets | USA
Caleb Clauset
Tech Lead | Sri Lanka
Chamari Madushani Silva
Chief Executive Officer | Australia
Chandi Perera
Solutions Consultant | South Africa
Damian Gibbs
Senior Solutions Consultant | USA
Eric Damitz
Software Engineer | Sri Lanka
Gayan Wijesinghe
Associate Architect | Sri Lanka
Gayanthika Udeshani
Product Manager | Netherlands
Guy van der Kolk
Associate Tech Lead | Sri Lanka
Janith Thilakarathna
Project Manager | France
Marie Gollentz
Senior Software Engineer | Ukraine
Max Zhaloba
Senior Software Engineer | Sri Lanka
Ramesh Perera
Tech Lead | Sri Lanka
Apsara Abeysiriwardana
Apsara is a Software Engineer working in the Writer team. She is a self-driven, enthusiastic and highly motivated person who enjoys new challenges where she can apply her knowledge, talents, and skills in development and research related to computer science. Apsara likes travelling, photography and music. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Colombo School of Computing.
VP Product + New Markets | USA
Caleb Clauset
Caleb drives the vision and strategy for Typefi’s products, and cultivates strategic partnerships with developers to extend Typefi’s core capabilities. He is an award-winning designer and Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign with over a decade’s experience designing, developing and implementing publishing technology. He holds a Master of Graphic Design from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Tech Lead | Sri Lanka
Chamari Madushani Silva
Chamari is a Tech Lead attached to the Designer team—working mainly with Typefi Designer, Autofit and Typefitter projects. Chamari holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Engineering from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and has completed her Master of Philosophy degree in Electrical and Information Engineering from University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.
Prior to joining Typefi, Chamari had three years of experience in C#.net development and has almost ten years of work experience in the capacity of a Lecturer in University of Ruhuna and Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology.
Chief Executive Officer | Australia
Chandi Perera
Chandi joined Typefi in 2006, and has over two decades of publishing and media technology experience. He has acted as a technology consultant to corporations and government agencies around the world, and is a frequent conference speaker in the areas of content management, publishing, media, XML, structured content and digital rights management. Chandi is a board member of a number of industry bodies and has degrees in Engineering and Computer Science.
Solutions Consultant | South Africa
Damian Gibbs
Damian started out as an apprentice typesetter over 20 years ago at a leading South African educational publisher, and from the start was curious about opportunities that digital technologies bring to publishing. He transitioned to general market publishing and eventually became a service provider to local and offshore publishers covering a diverse range of publishing markets, all requiring varying workflows and output requirements.
Damian has extensive experience working with publishers to use evolving technologies and innovative digital publishing products to improve workflows, and to transition from pure print to digital outputs such as web, e-books, and CMS publishing.
Senior Solutions Consultant | USA
Eric Damitz
As a Senior Solutions Consultant, Eric works with customers to determine the best way to use Typefi for their particular needs, and then implements their solution. He started in publishing over 20 years ago as a TeX typesetter at a small development house, where he learned such valuable skills as opaquing film, making Dylux proofs, and pasting up forms with hot wax. He also learned desktop publishing, which was somewhat more useful. He moved to a large educational publishing company and spent 17 years as a production manager working with his colleagues to re-invent how publishing works—several times.
Eric’s particular skillset focuses on publishing automation, workflow improvement, and single-source publishing for both digital and print. He has a degree in Rhetoric (writing, not arguing) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Software Engineer | Sri Lanka
Gayan Wijesinghe
Gayan is a member of the Typefi Server team. A skilled software engineer, he is primarily working as a Java back end developer, but is also proficient in front end technologies, AWS, Android and cybersecurity. He is eager to learn new technologies.
Gayan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Technology from Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka. He relaxes by playing computer games and watching films.
Associate Architect | Sri Lanka
Gayanthika Udeshani
Gayanthika is an Associate Architect in the XSLT team, and mainly does development work related to Professional Services and R&D projects. Prior to that, she was a member of the Typefi Designer and Typefitter teams. Having worked as a software engineer for over ten years, her primary interest is in applying her skills and experience to research and development across a range of platforms.
Gayanthika holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Computer Science from the University of Sri Jayawardanapura, Sri Lanka, and has completed a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Gayanthika holds the PMP certification and has two years of work experience as a Lecturer at the University of Seychelles, facilitating the University of London degree program.
Product Manager | Netherlands
Guy van der Kolk
Guy first got hooked on publishing while attending an international school in Ivory Coast, where he used Pagemaker, Photoshop and an Apple Quicktake 100 camera to help create the yearbook. After many hours of hard work, while holding the final printed product, he knew this was an industry he wanted to be a part of.
Having spent the first 17 years of his life in West Africa, Guy is fluent in three languages and has a multicultural background that has served him well in his career. As an IT consultant and trainer for an Apple Premium reseller and then as a Senior Solutions Consultant for Typefi, he has trained thousands of people to get the most out of their software.
In 2020, Guy moved into the role of Typefi Product Manager, working with the product and engineering teams to continue to improve on our world-leading publishing software and bring you exciting new features. He continues to apply his deep product knowledge in a Professional Services capacity, working on projects with new and current customers.
Associate Tech Lead | Sri Lanka
Janith Thilakarathna
Janith is working for the Typefi Server team as an Associate Tech Lead. He is experienced in developing web-based applications and mainly worked with Java-based technologies.
Janith completed his higher education at Faculty of Information Technology in University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, majoring in Information Technology. He enjoys his leisure time by travelling and watching cricket and football.
Project Manager | France
Marie Gollentz
Working closely with Typefi’s team of experts, Marie manages client projects to ensure they are successfully delivered and meet their specific needs. Marie develops Typefi’s project management process to continuously improve client collaboration. Marie joined Typefi in 2016 as a Solutions Consultant and brings to her current role, a wealth of experience in helping clients adopt the best solution to achieve their goals. In 2022, Marie achieved her Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) qualification. Prior to Typefi, Marie held a number of positions in the publishing industry in London (UK), including for the publisher of Research Fortnight and the London School of Business and Finance. She graduated with a Masters degree in European Political Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences from Sciences Po Strasbourg (France). She is trilingual in English, French and Spanish.
Senior Software Engineer | Ukraine
Max Zhaloba
Max is a Senior Software Engineer at Typefi, with over 11 years of experience in XML technologies. He specialises in complex content processing projects, conversion designs optimisation, and applying modern XML technologies.
Senior Software Engineer | Sri Lanka
Ramesh Perera
Ramesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from the University of Colombo School of Computing. He has professional experience in developing web applications with .NET technologies, is eager to learn new tech-related web development, and is also interested in cloud technologies. Playing and watching cricket is Ram’s one and only hobby! He also loves to travel to unknown destinations.
We are XML experts
Typefi has been implementing Word to XML workflows since 2004. We’ve been working with JATS, BITS, and STS since the birth of these standards. Some of our team members were even involved in their initial development.
We know this space extremely well and have been active in it since the beginning, so we’re confident we can build a powerful eXtyles replacement.
If you would like to stay up-to-date with our progress, please join the project community.
