Re: DOCBOOK: DocBook 4.0 - SGML or XML?

[Bob Stayton <bobs@sco.COM>]

> From: Colin Paul Adams <colin@colina.demon.co.uk>
> 
> I shall shortly be upgrading from 3.1 to 4.0. But should I be looking
> to use the SGML DTD or XML? What are the pros and cons of these two
> alternatives? 

I'll be provocative and say that XML has a future
and SGML doesn't.  

Look around and you will see an enormous worldwide
development effort in XML, with new parsers, formatters,
standards, and extensions coming out so fast that
no one can keep up with it all.  There is nothing
equivalent on the SGML side.

With SGML, you are limited to a short list of available
tools, and the DSSSL and FOSI formatting languages, neither
of which have many practitioners.  

However, SGML is a more mature and stable standard, and
the tools aren't all versioned "zero.something" as many are
on the XML side. But there is such an active development
community in XML that tools don't stay broken long,
and you usually can pick another one anyway if you have to.

But you say you will be "upgrading" from 3.1 to 4.0,
which implies you already have legacy SGML content.
Depending on how much SGML you have, you'll have
to include your conversion effort in your comparison.

I believe anyone starting out fresh would be
better off in the long run by choosing XML.

bobs
Bob Stayton                                 400 Encinal Street
Publications Architect                      Santa Cruz, CA  95060
Technical Publications                      voice: (831) 427-7796
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.              fax:   (831) 429-1887
                                            email: bobs@sco.com