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Subject: Re: [docbook-tc] proposed article for review


Hi Scott,

I think this looks good. Here are a couple of random notes:

1) I wouldn't say "slogging" through the final stages ... I suggest a more positive word. Maybe "... passed its first round of public review and is in the final stages of becoming an OASIS Committee Specification."'

2) "With that stability comes" (no comma).

3) "DocBook was originally created for hardware and software documentation and excels" (no comma)

4) Is the Publisher's schema really a subset or a modification? (I'd also drop the word "also" in that sentence).

5) "... always room for improvement, and v5.1 doesn't ..." (add comma)

6) "a document <structure> contains one or more ..." ("contains" in place of "is comprised of")

7) Third sentence under "Better Accessibility." I would reword as: "Where sighted readers can easily associate a column or row header with the correct column or row, screen reader software and devices cannot reliably interpret these visual cues."

8) Last sentence under "Better Accessibility." I would reword as: "DocBook v5.1 addresses these needs by adding the @headers and @scope attributes on <entry>, adding the @rowheader attribute on <colspec>, and allowing <table> to contain <caption> for text summaries."

9) In "DocBook vs. DITA" "topic-oriented paradigm and can result..." (no comma)

10) Second paragraph of the same section: "my advice is this:" (advice rather than advise).

11) Same paragraph. I would consider making this a bullet list for each of the questions.

Best regards,
Dick
-------
XML Press
XML for Technical Communicators
http://xmlpress.net
hamilton@xmlpress.net



On Jun 26, 2015, at 15:40, Hudson, Scott <scott.hudson@comtech-serv.com> wrote:

> All,
> 
> Please review the attached article and provide comments, suggestions and clarifications as needed! I'd like quick turnaround on this so I can get it in the July CIDM newsletter.
> 
> DocBook is not dead! Long live DocBook!
>  
> Contrary to popular belief, DocBook is not a dead standard. In fact, it is very much alive. DocBook v5.1 has passed its first round of Public Review and is slogging through the final steps of the OASIS standardization process to become an official OASIS Committee Specification. Soon after, it will go through the voting process to become an OASIS Standard.
> Why do we need DocBook? Isn’t everyone using DITA?
> There is no small list of projects, organizations and companies using DocBook. Just take a look at http://wiki.docbook.org/WhoUsesDocBook for starters!
>  
> DocBook provides many benefits, not the first of which is stability. DocBook has been a standard for marking up technical documentation since 1991. With that stability, comes a robust stylesheet rendering implementation, active user community, and off-the-shelf tools support from a variety of XML editors and content management systems.
> DocBook was originally created for hardware and software documentation, and excels at marking up content for those industries. The DocBook Publishers subset of the standard has also been released to specifically address the needs of the book publishing industry. DocBook is also used to create:
> 	• help systems
> 	• Web sites
> 	• books
> 	• reference pages
> 	• FAQs
> 	• white papers
> 	• training courseware
> 	• articles
> 	• API documentation
> 	• reports
> 	• functional specifications
> 	• "how to" guides and other procedural documentation
> 	• presentations
> 
> and now, topics! That’s right, DocBook v5.1 introduces several new elements to address the needs of topic-oriented content. <topic> is now available as a component=level element. Content creators can collect these topics into new modules, manuals, books, help systems, websites, and more using the <assembly> element.
> “We can rebuild him. We have the technology… Better than before”
> DocBook has never been the Six Million Dollar standard. It’s been open-source from the beginning! That said, there is always room for improvement and v5.1 doesn’t disappoint. While DocBook used XInclude to collect modular content into a document before, the new <assembly> provides a number of improvements:
> 1.     Physical structure – a document <structure> is comprised of one or more <module> elements. Each <module> references a <resource>. Those resources can be managed independently of the desired structure, offering greater flexibility.
> 2.     Centralized metadata – metadata always occurs in an <info> element in DocBook, but there are times when metadata is needed at the assembly level for a particular output. <info> is a key structure that is allowed at the <structure> and <module> levels.
> 3.     Relationships – In a topic oriented system, it is often important to describe how certain content is related. Rather than a strict tabular structure, as seen in DITA, the DocBook <relationship> resembles a Resource Description Framework or Topic Map paradigm, that can be expressed as a graph. A <relationship> exists between two or more <instance> resources, and the nature of that relationship is described by an <association>. Using this type of structure enables processors to build “smarter” content systems, since the relationships can be expressed in RDF or other semantic web formats.
> 4.     Transformations – an <assembly> can identify a collection of <transforms> that can be used during the assembly/publishing process. This enables an <assembly> to use content from non-DocBook resources via a specified transformation!
> If You’re not RelaxNG, You’re Working Too Hard
> I have the above statement as a bumper sticker on my truck. RelaxNG has been the canonical format for DocBook since v5.0. This schema language makes it MUCH easier for authors and organizations to extend the content models in DocBook to meet their specific content needs. If you aren’t using it yet, you need to learn it. Even DITA has taken the cue and is including it in their v1.3.  Tools are starting to support this schema language now too.
> Better Accessibility
> DocBook v5.1 addresses a number of accessibility enhancements for output to screen readers. One of the issues in making tabular data accessible to visually impaired readers lies in providing the appropriate markup that will allow a correct correlation of table data with its headings. Where sighted readers can intuitively assign a header placed atop a table column or leftmost in a row (or any combination thereof), these cues through visual placement are not available to screen reader software or devices. DocBook v5.1 specifically addresses these needs through the addition of @headers and @scope attributes on <entry>, @rowheader on <colspec> and allowing <caption> within <table> to provide textual summaries.
> Other Improvements
> Docbook v5.1 contains improved support for multimedia, Schematron assertions, XLink and XInclude. Now it is possible to configure autoplay and media player configurations to deliver multimedia content. Linking is also improved to allow for extended links and other link types. Since Schematron is embedded in the RelaxNG schemas, tighter controls for validating content is now available.
> DocBook vs DITA
> The debate continues to rage on regarding DocBook and DITA. For organizations that have a large collection of existing DocBook content, does it really make sense to switch to DITA? DITA often requires authors to re-write their content to fit the topic-oriented paradigm, and can result in costly migration and re-training. With the new topic-oriented additions to DocBook v5.1, organizations should no longer feel compelled to make such a switch. Topic oriented content can be used alongside the existing content set, with no additional migration needed.
>  
> For those trying to move from unstructured Frame or Word to a structured standard, my advise is this: What kind of content does your organization create? Take a look at the available elements in both DocBook and DITA standards and choose the one that is most appropriate for that content. Are you creating software documentation? If so, DocBook has a much more robust set of elements to describe APIs and SDKs. Are you creating e-Learning or training content? DITA has a very robust set of elements geared specifically to training content.
>  
> Another consideration is your output needs. While both DITA and DocBook support PDF, HTML, ePub and more, the path to get to those outputs can vary widely. Customizing your PDF output can be much less painful in DocBook. Creating SCORM compliant output, however, would require the DITA-OT or custom stylesheets. Documentation on both stylesheet engines is readily available, so take a peek and see what you may be in for when the Marketing department needs to change the “look and feel” of your documentation set!
> 
> 
> Thanks and best regards,
> 
> Scott Hudson
> Senior Consultant
> Comtech Services Inc.
> 303-232-7586



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