As PlayShakespeare.com rounds out another calendar year of being the premiere free Shakespeare resource, we're already looking forward to version 3 of our Web site. One of the things that is going to greatly improve our play texts and allow us to provide great ways to search and manipulate it, is converting the plays to XML. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is the next step beyond HTML. While HTML uses pre-defined tags like "body", "header" and ""font",  XML allows you to define your own tags and structure. For example, the opening scene of Hamlet would look like this in XML:

<ACT>
<ACTTITLE>ACT I</ACTTITLE>
<SCENE>
<SCENETITLE>SCENE 1</SCENETITLE>
<SCENELOCATION>Elsinore.</SCENELOCATION>
<SCENEPERSONAE>(Barnardo...Marcellus, Ghost)</SCENEPERSONAE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter Barnardo and Francisco.</STAGEDIR>
<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BAR.</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

(The items are truncated just for the example.)

The HTML version would be longer and have less flexibility, which is what we currently use. We would also be able to add things like line numbers and we could use the same versions of the plays for both the Web site as well as our free Shakespeare application for the iPhone. The list goes on.

We're looking for volunteers to each take on a single play and convert it. It's pretty easy to do and doesn't require any real technical knowledge—just time. If you'd like to get started, take a look at the forum posting which describes the process:

http://www.playshakespeare.com/forum/77-shakespeare-news/5133-call-for-volunteers-to-help-convert-plays

You can also ask questions there and claim a play to get started. Thank you in advance for your contribution!