Martin Wheeler (mwheeler@startext.co.uk)
Wed, 12 Jan 2000 00:54:11 +0000 (GMT)
In a private e-mail, [X] wrote:
> I'd appreciate your thoughts on DocBook DTD versus
> say, Linuxdoc DTD, etc.
Very simple really -- the same as has been said by many others on this list:
SGML is the only real practical route to take for any documentation project on
this scale; and the DocBook DTD -- however rebarbative it may appear at first
sight -- gives the best mix of power, flexibility and suitability of purpose for this
type of technical documentation. (Still horribly black-on-white with a spine down
the back orientated, but -- it *will* evolve.)
Linuxdoc, debiandoc and other starter DTDs are just too lightweight to be of any
real usefulness whatsoever. The Davenport Group/Oasis have been refining this
one long enough for it to have now matured into a heavyweight "standard".
(I haven't heard much mention of the Addison-Wesley DTD lately.)
And of course the know-how to produce all the filters you might ever want is already
available -- just look at all the different outputs you can now produce from a single
master marked up using the TEI DTD -- all of which can be migrated to the DocBook
markup with not that much more effort. (A lot are already there.)
The real problem in my opinion is the lack of SGML-confident users out there --
but then five years ago who had ever heard of HTML? I actually see this project
as significantly increasing the pool of SGML-savvy tech-doc writers in the same
way that the availability of Linux has significantly increased the number of Unix-
savvy sysadmins out there. (Think back ten years -- how many DOSsers would
have thought themselves capable of running a Unix setup?)
The time has come to bite the bullet, and start the conversion process (hell, LDP
is most of the way there already) -- no-one ever said professionalism comes
easy. There's a learning curve, sure; but the expertise will filter down gradually --
and where better to acquire it than a list like this?
And for all you budding book-writers out ther -- O'Reilly uses the DocBook DTD,
so just consider learning it as part of your apprenticeship, OK?
msw
-- Martin Wheeler - StarTEXT - Glastonbury - BA6 9PH - England mwheeler@startext.co.uk http://www.startext.co.uk/
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