JDF BASICS -- It's Just the Ticket

The bulk of the specification is concerned with defining and describing all of the production processes (called nodes) and materials that are likely to be used by the graphic arts industry as a whole. Recognizing that printing is a flexible, or custom, manufacturing environment, it doesn't try to define a standard workflow. Instead, JDF establishes standard process building blocks (defined in XML) that can be used to digitally emulate any real-world print workflow. Theoretically, it provides a mechanism for exchanging process instructions and job parameters in an open, coherent fashion.