Re: [docbook-apps] DocBook Customization

[DavePawson <davep@dpawson.co.uk>]

Eric Johnson wrote:
> I was talking to someone last night and they mentioned that the biggest 
> use case, and the one that is causing everyone to flock to DITA, for 
> using DocBook is to take the schema and then customize it.
> 
> My first reaction was to think "That's completely crazy. This person is 
> obviously just a DITA cultist and seeing the world through tinted 
> lenses." Then the cynic in me piped up and said "People often do crazy 
> things."
> 
> Is this a big use case in the DocBook world? Do organizations start with 
> standard DocBook and then tweak it around to make some customized 
> version of the schema that is no longer DocBook?
> 
> Why would an organization customize DocBook instead of adopting DITA 
> which is built with the (almost) requirement that it be customized?
> 
> What is the cost of doing the customization?
> One of the reasons my group adopted DocBook was that the schema did not 
> need to be customized. We had to create a few guidelines around using 
> certain tags, but that was much easier than modifying the schema. 
> Perhaps in larger groups using the schema to enforce rules is more 
> desirable.
> 

My 0.02Euros worth.

I find that the way v5 has been designed, customization is
almost trivial.

Call up your own rng schema.
Tweak the definitions you want to change
Import the docbook schema from there.
Job done.

E.g

<include href="/sgml/docbook/v5/rng/docbookxi.rng">
   <define name="db.para.blocks" combine="choice">
     <choice>
       <ref name="db.anchor"/>
       <ref name="db.para"/>
       <ref name="db.formalpara"/>
       <ref name="db.simpara"/>
       <ref name="poem"/>
     </choice>
   </define>
</include>

I added poem

My definition of that is outside docbook.

Just in case

  <start combine='choice'>
     <choice>
       <ref name="poem"/>
     </choice>
   </start>

I can't say it's hard.

HTH




regards

-- 
Dave Pawson
XSLT XSL-FO FAQ.
http://www.dpawson.co.uk