Re: [docbook-apps] Multiplatform toolchain for outputting "nice" PDF

[Tony Graham <tgraham@antenna.co.jp>]

On 14/11/2022 16:16, Jean-Christophe Helary wrote:
> For some historical reasons (and maybe others, I don't know), the 
> tool chain used in the project where I'm in charge of the manual
> uses a very outdated tool chain based on the following elements:
...
> Currently, the PDF that's built from our DocBook set is, not
> visually pleasant, to say the least.

The DocBook stylesheets only aspire to be a starting point.  They manage
that fairly successfully.

My example of what can be done is the Markup UK proceedings [2], about
which I wrote a paper. [1]

> There are few contributors to the documentation but ideally I'd like 
> something that works equally well on the three major platforms that 
> are Linux / Windows and macOS.

The DocBook stylesheets use Ant, which is cross-platform.  The Markup UK
proceedings' customisation bundles the (free) fonts used in the PDF so
that the output is identical on Windows and Linux.

The XSL-FO does include some Antenna House Formatter [3] extensions, but
the DocBook stylesheets have had the option to generate Antenna House
Formatter extensions since I don't know when.

I hope that helps.

Regards,


Tony Graham.
--
Senior Architect
XML Division
Antenna House, Inc.
----
Skerries, Ireland
tgraham@antenna.co.jp

[1] https://markupuk.org/webhelp/index.html#ar10.html
[2] https://markupuk.org/pdf/Markup-UK-2021-proceedings.pdf
[3] https://www.antennahouse.com/formatter-v7