Re: [docbook] Add topic element to DocBook?

["Michael(tm) Smith" <smith@sideshowbarker.net>]

"Johnson, Eric" <Eric.Johnson@iona.com>, 2006-10-26 14:39 -0400:

> It sounds like adding an element to the schema for purely marketing
> reasons.

Maybe so. But for good or bad, there are a lot of technical
writers and tech-writing managers who are really keen on content
reuse and the idea of doing modular doc authoring, and they seem
to like the name Topic. And maybe having a Topic element in
DocBook will help them to do their modular authoring in DocBook
more easily.

> Essentially <topic> and <section> are the same, but not
> interchangeable correct?

Not interchangeable in the sense that they could be siblings
within the same doc instance. For example, you couldn't do this:

  <section>...
  <topic>...
  <section>...

Another difference is that while Section is not allowed as a child
of Book, Topic would be.

  --Mike

smime.p7s