Re: [docbook-apps] Small questions about what tools to use

[Alejandro Exojo <suy@kurly.org>]

El Viernes, 4 de Noviembre de 2005 04:11, Michael Smith escribió:
> I agree that the font size of headings in default DocBook XSL is too big.
> Way too big. But it is configurable. As an example, I've pasted in
> a copy of a customization layer I use for generating FO output.

Thanks for the tip. :) I will try it.

> There is also an XSL-based alternative to using the DocBook FO
> stylesheets -- dblatex:
>
>   http://dblatex.sourceforge.net/
>
> You might also try that.

Yes, searching in the list archives, I've read good comments, and the results 
in the website are very good. Yesterday I tried two or three times with that 
document I authored months ago, but without luck. I will investigate more, 
because the results seem very good.

> > And now I want to start a new document, and I have some doubts about what
> > tools to use:
> >
> > * Will Jade work with Docbook 5.0? I tried with defguide5 (is the only
> > DB5 document I have), and it didn't, so I don't know if start with 4.x,
> > or with the 5.0 beta.
>
> DocBook 5 is namespaced. Jade is an SGML tool. I don't know if it
> or other SGML tools will work with namespaced content.

If I understood correctly, XML is a subset of SGML, so I hope it will work if 
docbook is the default namespace. I did some tests with a trivial document, 
and it doesn't works, though. :-(

> > * Should I remain with DSSSL/Jade, or switch to XSL, and just customize
> > the stylesheets until I get a result which is near to what I like?
>
> For starting new projects, I would personally not recommend
> investing time in using the DSSSL/Jade toolchain. For one thing,
> it is not really being actively maintained. All work on new
> features is going into the XSL toolchain.
>
> Really, the current problems with the XSL toolchain are due to
> limitations in the open-source XSL-FO processors (FOP, Passivetex,
> others) -- not due to limitations in the FO stylesheets. There are
> non-free-software alternatives (XEP, Antenna House XSL Formatter)
> that produce PDF output that is better than anything that can be
> gnerated using the DocBook DSSSL toolchain.

Well, that's a pity, because my I prefer free software, and my laptop's 
platform is linux on powerpc, so I'm part of my time stuck with free software 
only. :-)

But thanks, because it's good to know where the problem is, or which 
alternatives there are.

>   --Mike
>
>(...)

Thanks again for the snippet and the answers.

Regards.

-- 
Alex (a.k.a. suy) - GPG ID 0x0B8B0BC2
http://darkshines.net/ - Jabber ID: suy@bulmalug.net