Re: [docbook-apps] Mapping OMG / ISO specification files to DocBook

[Stefan Seefeld <stefan@seefeld.name>]

On 07/27/2012 04:35 PM, Bob Stayton wrote:
> Hi Stefan,
> Short of schema customization, the @role attribute in DocBook is the
> preferred mechanism to refine the semantics of an existing element
> into another "element".  In a situation similar to yours, I used
> preface with role="frontmatter" as the container for the special
> information, likewise because it required sections.  I customized the
> stylesheet to skip <preface role="frontmatter"> when generating
> output, and I modified the titlepage templates to pull information
> from it where needed.  That makes such a preface more like an info
> container, which is not output by default but only handled as a
> special case.  I don't consider it an abuse of preface, as this
> information does come before the body of the document, and the role
> attribute makes it clear that it is not a normal preface.

OK. Perhaps the title of a preface could be made optional, then ?

> You also said:
>
>> Please note that the OMG formally supports DocBook as input format for
>> specifications.
>
> In what way do they support DocBook?

That's a good question, and it appears the OMG is trying to figure that
out right now. :-)

OMG allows for submissions of new standards to be made using the DocBook
format. Apparently, no-one had ever done that before, though. Most
people send in MS Word documents. In the process of adoption the
documents need to be reformatted, which typically means that an editor
will convert the original MS Word document into FrameMaker. To avoid
this, I'm now working on custom stylesheets that generate a (pdf) format
that corresponds to the OMG / ISO expectations. This would allow the
original DocBook sources to be retained, which a) makes life easier for
the editor, and b) allows me to incorporate new revisions of the
standard into the original DocBook documents.
Assuming all of this is working out as planned, I intend to publish the
stylesheets such that others can then use the same process.

    Stefan


-- 

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