RE: [docbook-apps] oXygen 9 beta with WYSIWYG-like editing support for DocBook

["Dick Hamilton" <rlhamilton@frii.com>]

George,

First of all, thanks for giving us the opportunity to try out the
Oxygen beta.  I've heard a lot of good things about Oxygen, but this
is the first time I've tried it and in general I like it a lot.

And the thread about semantic vs. representational content has been
entertaining:).  I have a question and a comment:

The question is basic.  I'm able to associate my files with the css
and a schema (docbookxi.rnc), and both seem to work fine.  But, I have
not been able to figure out how to associate the docbook customization
that has caused all the hoopla.  Can you describe how to do that?

The comment is about the "hoopla."  Seems like the clear message from
this thread is that no one, default framework will satisfy everyone,
so making customization easy for users is important.  I'm glad to see
from your recent email that you're supporting user customization.

I have two suggestions regarding that:

- Make it easy to subset the schema.  A lot of organizations use
  a custom subset of docbook that only contains the tags they
  care about.  That capability may already be there (I'm not that
  familiar with Oxygen), but if not, it should be.
- I come down on the side of the "semanticists" (is that a word:-)
  when it comes to the question of emphasis, so I would encourage
  you to change the default DocBook framework to show a selection
  of inline elements, rather than bold, italic, and underline.  But,
  I wouldn't argue against showing the rendering as part of the
  selection so folks know what they're getting.

My experience as a writer and manager of writers is that if you
make it easy for writers to find the elements you want them to use,
they will use those elements.  However, if you make it hard to find
the elements you want them to use, they will use anything that looks
ok and validates.  Therefore, if you want them to use <replaceable>,
<wordasword>, <firstterm>, etc., then those choices need to be easily
accessible or they'll simply choose some convenient element, like
<emphasis>, that has the styling they want.

Dick Hamilton