[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]
Subject: RE: [docbook-apps] Tools for DocBook authoring by non-hackers
We are currently using Upcast to convert our template based Word documents to XML and then use Omnimark to translate the Upcast XML to DocBook. Marc Wiener Gartner, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Christian Roth [mailto:roth@infinity-loop.de] Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 4:44 AM To: DocBook Apps Mailing List Subject: Re: [docbook-apps] Tools for DocBook authoring by non-hackers Dear Paul, >I have an upcoming Word->DocBook conversion project in which one of >the requirements will almost certainly be that my involvement is a >one-off, and I will need to leave an environment (probably just on a >single machine) where new documents can be authored, and the various >output formats can be generated, by office staff whose computing >skills are probably limited to Microsoft applications. Training will >be possible, and there's not necessarily a requirement that the >application be completely hand-holding and WYSIWYG, but the command >lines and Makefiles that we are all comfortable with will be out of >the question, as will editing raw XML. you might also want to have a look at our application upCast. Though primarily a Word (RTF) to proprietary (=upCast DTD) XML converter, the current version includes a customizable (through tweaking the included XSLT sheet) DocBook 4.2 export filter. An XHTML export filter is also included, as is a CSS2 export filter for styling information of the Word document. Beneficial to your specific situation is that upCast includes "post processing filter" steps like calling a commandline tool or using the built-in XSLT processor (Xalan), which lets you build a workflow by adding appropriately configured filter instances to the configuration. This can all be done using a straightforward GUI, and configurations can be saved and restored. The actual user then authors the document in Word, chooses it as input document in our tool and starts the conversion with the click on a button, which carries out the previously defined processing and conversion steps on that document. Aside from tool questions, I think it is important to note that Word- >DocBook conversion results are tightly linked to the quality of the input document. You will probably want to create a styleguide ("author lists using the Word list feature; don't create tables using tabs, but real tables; use styles, not manual formatting; use heading styles for headings; don't use nesting tables;" etc.) for the author and possibly a Word template with appropriately defined formatting styles that you pick up in the DocBook export configuration to achieve best results. There are also XML editors which create an Office-like WYSIWYG UI to DocBook editing (I see that other respondents mentioned some of them already). However, it is still quite different from the usual Word-type editing, especially editing with invisible (in the layout view) container/grouping elements so authors will need training. Best regards Christian Roth -- infinity-loop GmbH Christian Roth CTO http://www.infinity-loop.de roth@infinity-loop.de To unsubscribe from this list, send a post to docbook-apps-unsubscribe@lists.oasis-open.org, or visit http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/.
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]