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Subject: Re: AW: DOCBOOK: docbook suitable for book - creation ?
On Sun, Nov 17, 2002 at 08:02:33PM +0100, KMcLauchlan wrote: > [stuff deleted] > > Every time I turn around, somebody is making > different claims for DocBook (and whether the > pure-and-godly way to do it is DSSSL or XSL, > or... whatever the other choices are). One > minute I'me hearing that I could fire up > OpenJade and have finished product in half > an hour, and the next minute, I'm being told > that... well, no, actually, that would only > give me an output file that I'd then have > to bring into some other system to produce > actual human-usable printouts, or cross- > referenced and hot-linked PDFs, etc. > > One minute, its the perfect solution for > the single, busy writer in a small company, > and the next it's "oh no, I wouldn't take > that on unless I had a department of people, > including one or two who could dedicate > themselves full-time to DTD creation..." > > So, what's the poop? If I am producing quite > acceptable and timely output in (say) Frame, > BUT am moving to a platform where Frame is not > available, yet still need to produce docs that > are laid out to the company/marketing-dept. standards, > AND keep meeting deadlines that are getting closer > and closer together every month... is DocBook > (and OpenJade, or fill-in-your-favorite-solution) > the ideal solution for me? Only you will know if DocBook is an ideal solution for you. But here is some information to help you decide. Setting up and using the DocBook tools to produce the default output style is not too hard. There are several toolkits and tutorials for that, and the tools work on most platforms. You still have to learn XML or SGML markup and the rules your document structure must follow. Customizing the output style to meet company/marketing/academic standards is not that easy with DocBook. It requires an investment of time in learning the stylesheets and the stylesheet language (DSSSL or XSL). That investment may not be worth it for a small number of documents, or a single author. But once you have made the investment in the stylesheet and processing environment, the system can be highly productive. DocBook is a batch processing system, as opposed to an interactive processing system like FrameMaker. After tweaking the stylesheet, you can type "make set" and regenerate a whole new set of books. Such automation is not as easy with FrameMaker. On the other hand, FrameMaker gives you an interactive environment that lets you tweak each page of a book. That's not easy with DocBook. So DocBook is most effective when you have a lot of content using the same standardized stylesheet, and you don't need to tweak each page. -- Bob Stayton 400 Encinal Street Publications Architect Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Technical Publications voice: (831) 427-7796 The SCO Group fax: (831) 429-1887 email: bobs@sco.com
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