RE: AW: DOCBOOK: docbook suitable for book - creation ?

[Stephan Wiesner <stephan@stephan-wiesner.de>]

Framemaker can import DocBook. So you could write it in DocBook and do
the final layout with that. You would probably need a week to learn how
to use Framemaker, though. 
Just another idea we were playing around with.

Stephan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Wilm [mailto:listen@peterwilm.de] 
> Sent: Sonntag, 17. November 2002 20:21
> To: docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: Re: AW: DOCBOOK: docbook suitable for book - creation ?
> 
> 
> Hi Marc,
> Thank you for your hints!
> I also read Stephan's thesis and came to the conclusion, that 
> it is too much effort for me to switch from LaTeX to DocBook. 
> DocBook seems great for large projects, where there are the 
> ressources to modify the existing and create new Stylesheets 
> and for building systems for end-users like Stephan and his 
> colleagues do. But for a single diploma thesis of an enduser 
> it seems a bit of an overkill in my eyes. So I will use 
> LaTeX, which I already know, like You recommended. Thanks! Peter.
> 
> 
> On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 15:32:20 +0100
> "Schlienger, Marc" <M.Schlienger@bjoernsen.de> wrote:
> 
> > Hello Peter,
> > 
> > let me give you my opinion, despite the fact I'm quite new 
> as well in 
> > the DocBook world...
> > 
> > DocBook experts, do not hesitate to point out if I'm wrong...
> > 
> > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > > Von:	Peter Wilm [SMTP:listen@peterwilm.de]
> > > Gesendet am:	Sonntag, 17. November 2002 14:35
> > > An:	docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
> > > Betreff:	DOCBOOK: docbook suitable for book - creation ?
> > > 
> > > Hi,
> > > The literature for docbook - newbies (e.g. DocBook: The Definitive
> > > Guide) concentrates on the creation of the structured content. 
> > > However, as I consider learning docbook for writing my thesis, I 
> > > would also like to know how to produce a printed version of the 
> > > book. I do have highly specific constraints regarding the Layout: 
> > > e.g. the size of the left / right page margin, etc. So 
> the layout is 
> > > specified in the stylesheet, which is written in XSL or DSSL, I 
> > > suppose ?
> > 	[Schlienger, Marc]  yes, that's true. You can then adapt it to
> > 	your needs by following these steps (it gets from easy for
> > 	simple changes, to difficult for complex layout wishes)
> > 	1. set some xsl parameters as you wish (for instance, body
> > 	margin size, title margin size, paper size, etc.)
> > 	2. write a stylesheet customization layer for more options:
> > 	custom title page, sets of attributes, custom headers/footers,
> > 	etc. 3. fine tune your customization layer with custom
> > 	templates for chapters, sections.
> > 	4. write your own stylesheets?
> > 
> > > Is there any online literature suitable for beginners ?
> > 	[Schlienger, Marc]  go there:
> > 	http://docbook.org/wiki/moin.cgi/
> > 
> > > So, if I want to create a suitable layout for my thesis - not for
> > > some thesis - but to fullfill the specifications that *I* got -
> > > will it be easy to learn to write the stylesheet (i.e. in a few
> > > days) ?	[Schlienger, Marc]  step 1 == less than a day, ---->
> > > step 4 == one week if you are new to stylesheets
> > 
> > > With LaTeX everything seems clear to me - but the switch LaTeX -> 
> > > docbook is a bit difficult if you have to print the XML - 
> document 
> > > to a PDF file in a concrete specified Layout ?
> > 	[Schlienger, Marc]  if you already know LaTeX, I would suggest
> > 	write your thesis in LaTeX. But if you absolutely want to
> > 	learn DocBook, then write it in DocBook, and use the db2latex
> > 	stylesheet to produce LaTeX from DocBook, then you are again
> > 	in your world to perform whatever you want.
> > 
> > > I got the impression that layout doesn't matter to the docbook 
> > > community...
> > 	[Schlienger, Marc]  I believe the print layout is still in its
> > 	early stages for DocBook, since it builds mostly on Formated
> > 	Objects (FO) and FOP, the processor for FO, is still in
> > 	version 0.20... Well, you can use PassiveTex (fo-->pdf using
> > 	TeX), but it won't produce such a nice layout as does LaTeX.
> > 
> > 	DocBook was first designed for Software Documentation. 
> If your thesis 
> > covers more general stuff, then maybe LaTeX is better. I 
> find DocBook 
> > great, among the most powerful characteristics is the 
> single sourcing. 
> > You might not need this, or am I wrong? Maybe you want Html and PDF 
> > output. LaTeX is good for that.
> > 
> > 	DocBook is more structured than LaTeX, so it won't be a
> > 	problem to produce LaTeX from DocBook, but the opposite isn't
> > 	true.
> > 
> > 	I hope this helps you to decide.
> > 
> > 	Marc.    
> 
>