DOCBOOK-APPS: Jade MIF builds

[Andrew Westcombe <asw@getsystems.com>]

Toolchain:

SGML DocBook 3.1/Jade/DSSSL

At the moment, we create our printed output by building RTF files as per 
the above toolchain, and formatting in MSWord. Unfortunately, MSWord 
misbehaves very badly with very long (>200 pg) documents, refusing to 
recognise images. I've found that StarOffice is somewhat better here: 
images get recognised, but a whole bunch of other problems are introduced. 
Oversized images are scaled non-uniformly, tables of contents are trashed, 
and margins are screwy. Pardon my high-falutin' tech talk.

The problems that StarOffice introduces can all be fixed, but the end 
result is a very labour-intensive process. So we're looking for 
alternatives. One of our sysadmins is currently investigating PDF builds 
via jadetex, but he's finding that tables are giving him no end of grief.

Another potential route to long-document nirvana is to build to MIF, and 
put the finishing touches on in Framemaker. (Note that this approach 
sidesteps the SGML side of FM, essentially using it as a souped-up word 
processor.) But we don't use FM at the moment, so I would like to know if 
the list-members think that this approach is likely to bear fruit.

Any comments?

Thanks,

Andrew Westcombe
Documentation Manager
Gaming and Entertainment Technology (GET)
www.getsystems.com

ph. +61-2-9419-2000
email: asw@getsystems.com
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--Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus