Re: [docbook-apps] Using OpenOffice as a DocBook editor

[Eduardo Mercovich <eduardo.mercovich@gmail.com>]

Hello all. 

[...]
> > The problem I see is that while some existing xml editors give you
> > convenience features for DocBook out of the box, none really matches the
> > ease of use of a garden variety dtp tool. Take xrefs.

> Good example. Whilst Word (and ooo? I'm not sure) supports xrefs,
> I find them clunky and not very clever.

On this very interesting thread about docbook editors we are stepping
over a very important decision: what type of users, what task and in
which context is the editor going to be needed/used?

There is no better editor if we don't specify this fundamental triad. 

As was already said before, for engineers that already use emacs or
vim, a specific mode for their preferred editor would be perfect. Of
course, the same solution would be unusable for a writer that focus on
content only, in which case a solution like XML XXE is closer to what
he knows and can use.

In my -very short- experience, if we want docbook markup and have
users that don't want to learn docbook, something like XXE with 2 or 3
hours of tutorial and a little visual customization is more that
enough.

Heavy users may or not need other solution depending on the tasks and
context. Do they have someone knowledgeable in the organization to
work on the transformation or need a solution all-in-one? How many
writers will work in the same organization?

In any way, let's not confuse XML markup (which OO does OK) with
docbook markup (which OO does not OK). And this doesn't mean that it
can't be done. I would *love* an OO super macro that defines the DTD
and leaves only valid structures as styles, so we don't need to
explain to our users nothing about docbook. Just use "chapter" or
"asbtract" or "itemizedlist". This is something they do understand
easily.

My 2 cents. :-)

Regards...

-- 
Eduardo Mercovich
Buenos Aires - Argentina.