DocBook Syntax in TDG - Send Your Comments

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

Following up on my action item from last week's TC meeting,
this message is to request your input for the best way to
represent the DocBook syntax in the printed version of the
Definitive Guide (TDG).

Background: If you simply build a PDF from the current version
of TDG as it lives on sourceforge, you end up with a 1,500
page book. Most of that space is in the content model syntax,
which looks like the HTML syntax for 5.0. While that syntax
is great for online viewing, it uses too much space for paper.

Ideas: Here are a few alternatives I've thought of. Please
comment on these alternatives and suggest new ones.

1) Reproduce the format from the current guide. This would
   need to be tweaked, but the result would look similar to
   the way the book looks today.

2) Remove syntax information from each entry and replace it
   with an appendix that contains the full grammar. That is
   still pretty voluminous, the full rnc grammar, unedited,
   is about 180 printed pages. However, it could be edited
   to display in less space.

3) Remove syntax information entirely and make it available
   in eBook form. The entries might include parent of and
   child of lists, but not the syntax.

4) Compress the syntax by using the same groupings that the
   grammar does. This would make the syntax for an element
   like <section> look something like this:

   element section {
      db.section.attlist, db.section.info,
      db.recursive.blocks.or.sections,
      db.navigation.components*
   }

I'm sure there are lots of other options, so please dive in
with your suggestions.

Dick Hamilton
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