Re: [docbook] questions about the future of docbook (ng)...

[Stefan Seefeld <seefeld@sympatico.ca>]

HAMILTON,DICK (HP-FtCollins,ex1) wrote:

> I took a quick look at the templates and I actually
> think most, if not all, of the needed vocabulary is
> already in docbook as it exists today.
> 
> I could imagine some domain-specific markup being
> possibly useful, especially in the description of
> schedules (gantt charts, etc.), but I don't think
> it's absolutely required, and if it is, I'll bet
> you can find an existing XML DTD/Schema for those
> kinds of things.


Some more thoughts on this:

I believe for this particular domain I would define
some superstructure that would be superposed with
existing docbook elements. A <usecase> element, say,
would possibly just wrap a <variablelist> (with some
additional constraints on the variablelist's
structure). Such new elements are almost equivalent
to the current practice of injecting 'role' attributes
at various places, but giving more consistency and power
to those who write xslt templates and css stylesheets.

Beside that, the recent addition of 'typed indexes'
could be used to create a 'use case index'.

The main advantage would be the 'enhanced semantics'
so authors would have some guidance writing their
software development docs.

Regards,
		Stefan