Silva is a completely browser based publication system for creating publications for the web, paper, and other media. Content is stored in a clean and future-proof format, independent of layout and presentation, suitable for use in multiple contexts. Silva allows novice users to enter new documents as well as edit existing documents using a simple web interface.
Behind the scenes, Silva stores content in XML (Extensible Markup Language). This leads to several important advantages:

The same content can be used in different media, such as the web, paper, or word processor content. Web publication of content is native to Silva as it is based on Zope, but Silva also has export filters to PDF and MS Word, and more can be built when the demand arises.

The content is future proofed and not out of date as soon as you want to use a new system or present it in a different way.

The structuring of the content facilitates more sophisticated searching and indexing.


Silva supports (but does not require) a separation between authors who can create new content and editors who can approve whether content actually gets published. It also allows delegation of editing or authoring responsibilities of a section of the publication to others. Thus, users can be empowered (avoiding a single-person bottleneck), without the loss of editorial control.

To assist in the publication process, Silva implements workflow where multiple versions of the same document are kept around at the same time. One version of a particular document may be published while another version can be edited at the same time.