Another thing to keep in mind is that DocBook already has a large assortment (some people say too many, but others of us disagree) of semantic elements available that describe many features of computers. Before investing in time to create a new class of things by using a role on emphasis, make sure that there is not already something available in the elements provided by DocBook. Some of them have numerous variations added through a class attribute (systemitem has 21 values enumerated for the class value). One of the values of a semantic markup system is that there are already a number of semantic bindings available in DocBook. You can customize the CSS style that is associated with the semantic tags that are already available, too (that's what the cascading part of cascading style sheet means) if you want more or different formatting for the semantic you are trying to represent (not all elements in DocBook have a unique format associated with them).
You can also extend the class attributes if you pick up a little of the RelaxNG grammar (there are lots of tutorials about it online). In using DocBook for a number of years here, we have tended to use tags like systemitem and add class values rather than using the role on emphasis, reserving emphasis for the more generic concept of "This is important" rather than for semantic bindings. Extending things through role is simpler, but using class and other more structured solutions provides better support for the authoring process since syntax aware editors provide hints to the user for enumerated values like class. I think CSS is great fun and it has been well worth the time invested in it to learn it (I spent an afternoon a few weeks ago learning how to use DIV elements instead of tables for controlling positions, which was quite a trip). I also have found the time spent learning DocBook by referencing The Definitive Guide worthwhile. There are a lot of elements available, and I don't pretend to know all of them, but I always look at the table of contents, which lists the elements, before I set out to extend it. I frequently find the DocBook team has been there before me and that all I have to do is tell the writers what element to use instead of inventing something. Regards, Larry Rowland -----Original Message----- From: Dave Pawson [mailto:da...@dpawson.co.uk] Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2010 4:44 AM To: Robert Lucente Cc: docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org Subject: Re: [docbook-apps] How do I highlight inline text ? On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:22:18 -0400 "Robert Lucente" <rluce...@pipeline.com> wrote: > > a.. Create a cascading style sheet w/ a file name of key_words.css > > w/ the following entry > > > > .key_words { background: yellow; } > > Nit picking, use semantic names for the attribute? > I may be wrong here. > > [RL Start] > > Nathalie Sequeira on April 07, 2010 5:31 PM recommended the following > > <emphasis role="semantic_function_of_the_emphasis">some > text</emphasis> > > I thought that this was way cool. Then if I wanted to change the how > the semantic was displayed, just change the CSS. > > Humm. What am I missing ? > > [RL End] I guessed that 'keyword' wasn't semantic. Was I wrong? If it does identify a keyword in your xml markup, my apologies. > [RL Start] > > I don't know anything about XSL. I will add it to the stuff to go > learn. > > Is putting parameters in XSL just a best practice thing ? I think so. puts all your 'styling' in one place?.. except it's two, one stylesheet importing another. > > It makes sense. This way you have all your styling knobs in one spot > as opposed to 2 different spots. > > Thanks for the help. Welcome. -- regards -- Dave Pawson XSLT XSL-FO FAQ. http://www.dpawson.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: docbook-apps-unsubscr...@lists.oasis-open.org For additional commands, e-mail: docbook-apps-h...@lists.oasis-open.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: docbook-apps-unsubscr...@lists.oasis-open.org For additional commands, e-mail: docbook-apps-h...@lists.oasis-open.org