Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Joe Malin]

Hi!



Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release,
so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured
docs.



I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next
round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should
I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My
only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of
elements that I don't want to use.



Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would
be much appreciated.



As you probably know, I have many years experience in software
development, so developing my own EDD is not an issue.



Joe




TuVox, Inc.


19050 Pruneridge Avenue Suite 150, Cupertino, CA 95014-0715

Joe Malin

Technical Writer

(408)625.1623

jmalin at tuvox.com

www.tuvox.com

The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.

Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Steve Rickaby]

At 11:22 -0700 7/10/06, Joe Malin wrote:

>Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release, so I 
>can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured docs.
>
>I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my existing 
>unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next round of docs in 
>DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should I develop an EDD myself 
>from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My only hesitation in using the 
>DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of elements that I don't want to use.
>
>Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would be 
>much appreciated.

Hi Joe

I was in exactly the same position about a year and a half ago, and was 
involved in a most helpful discussion with several structured experts on this 
list, so first off you should fine some relevant stuff in the archives. One 
thread was titled 'Structured Frame novice falls in at the deep end' (that was 
me), another 'Structure/Schema - Custom or off the shelf?'. If that fails for 
you, mail me off-list and I'll forward something.

The issue you raise is a big one and one that can have ramifications down the 
line. In the end, the right route for me was a 'roll your own' EDD, but that 
doesn't mean that it's the right one for you. I think of it as the 'BigSmall' 
decision, but that will have no resonances for anyone who doesn't watch UK 
commercial television (it features on a Toyota ad for the Yaris).

There are many pros and cons in both approaches. If you are new to structure, 
as I was, you will be floundering in trying to cut down a big EDD, whereas with 
familiarity it would not be too bad a job. Conversely, again if you are new to 
structure, writing your own simple EDD from the ground up is a great way to 
learn.

There is also Scriptorium's 'DocFrame' product, which as I understand it is 
DocBook tamed: . I believe that 
there are people on the list who have used it, although I haven't. Clearly, you 
have to pay for it.

Orthogonal to the decision you are battling with, and applying only if you 
'roll your own', is the decision over how much authority you will give the EDD 
over formatting. Again, molto argumentos. Some things, such as indented lists, 
are easier if the EDD is given some formatting authority (ie. 'if level 2, set 
indent to X'), although my current preference is to keep structure and 
presentation completely separate, the first in the EDD  (i.e. 'if list level 2, 
set para tag X') and the second in the template. This is in line with what I 
beleive software folks refer to as 'the principle of the separation of 
concerns'.

HTH

-- 
Steve

Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Joe Malin]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have worked in structured FM before, using
someone else's EDD. I think I understand structure pretty well. I have
worked with XML and HTML quite extensively both as a software developer
and as a writer. 

I don't mind writing an EDD from the ground up. What I want to avoid is
producing an EDD that is off-track from easy conversion to DocBook XML.
My overall goal is to convert my unstructured FM to structured FM and
then to XML on the way to HTML. Obviously this will be a long project. 

One of the important constraints is that I have to do it for 0 dollars.
Though I want to have single-source and people here like the idea, I
don't think anyone here needs it urgently enough to spend money on it,
yet.

Joe

 Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin at tuvox.com 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.
-Original Message-
From: Steve Rickaby [mailto:srick...@wordmongers.demon.co.uk] 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 4:36 AM
To: Joe Malin
Cc: framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject: Re: Docbook versus Home-Grown

At 11:22 -0700 7/10/06, Joe Malin wrote:

>Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release,
so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured
docs.
>
>I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next
round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should
I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My
only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of
elements that I don't want to use.
>
>Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would
be much appreciated.

Hi Joe

I was in exactly the same position about a year and a half ago, and was
involved in a most helpful discussion with several structured experts on
this list, so first off you should fine some relevant stuff in the
archives. One thread was titled 'Structured Frame novice falls in at the
deep end' (that was me), another 'Structure/Schema - Custom or off the
shelf?'. If that fails for you, mail me off-list and I'll forward
something.

The issue you raise is a big one and one that can have ramifications
down the line. In the end, the right route for me was a 'roll your own'
EDD, but that doesn't mean that it's the right one for you. I think of
it as the 'BigSmall' decision, but that will have no resonances for
anyone who doesn't watch UK commercial television (it features on a
Toyota ad for the Yaris).

There are many pros and cons in both approaches. If you are new to
structure, as I was, you will be floundering in trying to cut down a big
EDD, whereas with familiarity it would not be too bad a job. Conversely,
again if you are new to structure, writing your own simple EDD from the
ground up is a great way to learn.

There is also Scriptorium's 'DocFrame' product, which as I understand it
is DocBook tamed: <http://www.scriptorium.com/docframe/index.html>. I
believe that there are people on the list who have used it, although I
haven't. Clearly, you have to pay for it.


Orthogonal to the decision you are battling with, and applying only if
you 'roll your own', is the decision over how much authority you will
give the EDD over formatting. Again, molto argumentos. Some things, such
as indented lists, are easier if the EDD is given some formatting
authority (ie. 'if level 2, set indent to X'), although my current
preference is to keep structure and presentation completely separate,
the first in the EDD  (i.e. 'if list level 2, set para tag X') and the
second in the template. This is in line with what I beleive software
folks refer to as 'the principle of the separation of concerns'.

HTH

-- 
Steve

Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Marcus Carr]

Joe Malin wrote:

> Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software
> release, so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself
> into structured docs.

Ah, some time to play... ;-)

> I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my 
> existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the
> next round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use.
> Should I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the
> DocBook EDD? My only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it
> will have a lot of elements that I don't want to use.

In my opinion, the last sentence hints that you already know the answer 
to your question. My long-standing belief is that if you try to 
structure your data in accordance with what tools you currently have at 
hand, you're focusing on the wrong issue. Your documents have an 
inherent structure, and you should respect and support it. There is a 
cost to every single XPath that you don't use, so something like DocBook 
can be a very expensive approach. If you cut it down, you'll often find 
that you're left with the right elements, but the names may not be what 
you'd choose yourself. Also, DocBook is very loosely structured, so you 
may want to tighten up the models - by the time you go through all of 
this, you may as well have just done the analysis yourself and started 
with the pre-existing (but implied) structure of your documents.

Although there may be good reasons for going to DITA, I've never had 
reason to do so, as I feel that the benefits gained from standardisation 
would quickly dry up as soon as you started customising. I'd be inclined 
to convert to DITA as a final process if you really had a need to mix 
and match modules, but I would probably choose a more descriptive syntax 
for data creation and management.

> Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route,
> would be much appreciated.

Fifteen years of SGML and XML consulting and publishing and pretty much 
as much involvement with FrameMaker for me. I'm also involved with the 
emerging field of XML Governance, partially because my company has seen 
so many substandard approaches taken to structuring data and the current 
inability to manage XML-based projects effectively.

> As you probably know, I have many years experience in software 
> development, so developing my own EDD is not an issue.

You're perfectly positioned to start this off right.


-- 
Regards,

Marcus Carr  email:  mcarr at allette.com.au
___
Allette Systems (Australia)  www:http://www.allette.com.au
___
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
- Einstein

Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Lynne A. Price]

At 03:21 PM 10/8/2006, Joe Malin wrote:
>I don't mind writing an EDD from the ground up. What I want to avoid is
>producing an EDD that is off-track from easy conversion to DocBook XML.
>My overall goal is to convert my unstructured FM to structured FM and
>then to XML on the way to HTML. Obviously this will be a long project.

Joe,
   Sounds like you want to create an EDD that is compatible with DocBook 
without being overwhelmed with the number of elements and attributes in 
DocBook. What I do in this situation is:

1) Make a list of all the DocBook elements. One way to do so is to create 
an EDD from DocBook with no r/w rules and from this EDD generate a list of 
all Tag elements.

2) Turn each entry in the list into a drop rule (or generate the list in 
this form to begin with):

element "x" drop;
element "y" drop;
element "z" drop;

3) Review the list and decide which DocBook elements you want to keep. 
Comment out the corresponding rules:

element "x" drop;
/* element "y" drop; */
element "z" drop;

4) Do something similar with attributes.

5) Create a new EDD using the drop rules. FM will not create element 
definitions for the elements you have dropped. Furthermore, it will remove 
mention of them from the general rules of the elements you are retaining. 
The result should be a manageable EDD. You can still use the DocBook DTD.

 --Lynne





Lynne A. Price
Text Structure Consulting, Inc.
Specializing in structured FrameMaker consulting, application development, 
and training
lprice at txstruct.com   http://www.txstruct.com
voice/fax: (510) 583-1505 cell phone: (510) 421-2284  

Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Ellen Lebelle]

Hi Joe,

I work for a small company and I did my own EDD - with the help of
many members on this list. I also "keep structure and presentation
completely separate, the first in the EDD  (i.e. 'if list level 2, set
para tag X') and the second in the template."

I did this as the DITA thing was gaining importance, but since I
started before, I created my own tags in terms that I understand.
(Wasn't that one of the selling points of xml - that you didn't have
to comply with standardized tags?) In the end I think my structure is
very DITA-like (because my mind just happens to work in the same way),
but the tags are not. And, many of the more complex things that go
into the DITA application are missing, so to convert into DITA would
be a challenge. Also, because I was learning as I was doing, there are
probably things that should be cleaned up in my EDD or made simpler.
But it works for us.

If you're just starting out with this now, you might want to take that
into consideration.

Ellen Lebelle (mailto: elebelle at kds.com)
Documentation Manager
KDS
Centre d'Affaires La Boursidi?re -- BP160
92357 Le Plessis Robinson -- France

Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Mike Feimster]

Hi Joe,

I had to make a similar decision a couple years ago. I went with the
home-grown approach. I already knew how to create a DTD and EDD, as well
as XSLT, etc. I figured by the time I learned DocBook, cut it down to a
manageable level, added any other customizations, I could have created
my own EDD/DTD.

Also, by creating my own schema, I could take advantage of the inherent
style in my unstructured documents.

Once in XML, it is easy to get to HTML using XSLT. You can also create
HTML Help without spending any money on tools. (If you're attending the
FrameMaker Chautauqua in Austin next month, I'm presenting a session on
this.)

Mike

-Original Message-
From:
framers-bounces+mike.feimster=acstechnologies.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+mike.feimster=acstechnologies.com at lists.frameuse
rs.com] On Behalf Of Joe Malin
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 2:22 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Docbook versus Home-Grown

Hi!



Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release,
so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured
docs.



I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next
round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should
I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My
only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of
elements that I don't want to use.



Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would
be much appreciated.



As you probably know, I have many years experience in software
development, so developing my own EDD is not an issue.



Joe




TuVox, Inc.


19050 Pruneridge Avenue Suite 150, Cupertino, CA 95014-0715

Joe Malin

Technical Writer

(408)625.1623

jmalin at tuvox.com

www.tuvox.com

The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.



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Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Joe Malin]

Hi!

 

Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release,
so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured
docs.

 

I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next
round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should
I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My
only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of
elements that I don't want to use.

 

Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would
be much appreciated.

 

As you probably know, I have many years experience in software
development, so developing my own EDD is not an issue.

 

Joe

 


TuVox, Inc.


19050 Pruneridge Avenue Suite 150, Cupertino, CA 95014-0715

Joe Malin

Technical Writer

(408)625.1623

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

www.tuvox.com

The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.

 

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Re: Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Steve Rickaby]

At 11:22 -0700 7/10/06, Joe Malin wrote:

>Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release, so I 
>can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured docs.
>
>I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my existing 
>unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next round of docs in 
>DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should I develop an EDD myself 
>from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My only hesitation in using the 
>DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of elements that I don't want to use.
>
>Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would be 
>much appreciated.

Hi Joe

I was in exactly the same position about a year and a half ago, and was 
involved in a most helpful discussion with several structured experts on this 
list, so first off you should fine some relevant stuff in the archives. One 
thread was titled 'Structured Frame novice falls in at the deep end' (that was 
me), another 'Structure/Schema - Custom or off the shelf?'. If that fails for 
you, mail me off-list and I'll forward something.

The issue you raise is a big one and one that can have ramifications down the 
line. In the end, the right route for me was a 'roll your own' EDD, but that 
doesn't mean that it's the right one for you. I think of it as the 'BigSmall' 
decision, but that will have no resonances for anyone who doesn't watch UK 
commercial television (it features on a Toyota ad for the Yaris).

There are many pros and cons in both approaches. If you are new to structure, 
as I was, you will be floundering in trying to cut down a big EDD, whereas with 
familiarity it would not be too bad a job. Conversely, again if you are new to 
structure, writing your own simple EDD from the ground up is a great way to 
learn.

There is also Scriptorium's 'DocFrame' product, which as I understand it is 
DocBook tamed: . I believe that 
there are people on the list who have used it, although I haven't. Clearly, you 
have to pay for it.

Orthogonal to the decision you are battling with, and applying only if you 
'roll your own', is the decision over how much authority you will give the EDD 
over formatting. Again, molto argumentos. Some things, such as indented lists, 
are easier if the EDD is given some formatting authority (ie. 'if level 2, set 
indent to X'), although my current preference is to keep structure and 
presentation completely separate, the first in the EDD  (i.e. 'if list level 2, 
set para tag X') and the second in the template. This is in line with what I 
beleive software folks refer to as 'the principle of the separation of 
concerns'.

HTH

-- 
Steve
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RE: Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Joe Malin]

Thanks for the quick reply. I have worked in structured FM before, using
someone else's EDD. I think I understand structure pretty well. I have
worked with XML and HTML quite extensively both as a software developer
and as a writer. 

I don't mind writing an EDD from the ground up. What I want to avoid is
producing an EDD that is off-track from easy conversion to DocBook XML.
My overall goal is to convert my unstructured FM to structured FM and
then to XML on the way to HTML. Obviously this will be a long project. 

One of the important constraints is that I have to do it for 0 dollars.
Though I want to have single-source and people here like the idea, I
don't think anyone here needs it urgently enough to spend money on it,
yet.

Joe

 Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.
-Original Message-
From: Steve Rickaby [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 4:36 AM
To: Joe Malin
Cc: framers@FrameUsers.com
Subject: Re: Docbook versus Home-Grown

At 11:22 -0700 7/10/06, Joe Malin wrote:

>Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release,
so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured
docs.
>
>I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next
round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should
I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My
only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of
elements that I don't want to use.
>
>Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would
be much appreciated.

Hi Joe

I was in exactly the same position about a year and a half ago, and was
involved in a most helpful discussion with several structured experts on
this list, so first off you should fine some relevant stuff in the
archives. One thread was titled 'Structured Frame novice falls in at the
deep end' (that was me), another 'Structure/Schema - Custom or off the
shelf?'. If that fails for you, mail me off-list and I'll forward
something.

The issue you raise is a big one and one that can have ramifications
down the line. In the end, the right route for me was a 'roll your own'
EDD, but that doesn't mean that it's the right one for you. I think of
it as the 'BigSmall' decision, but that will have no resonances for
anyone who doesn't watch UK commercial television (it features on a
Toyota ad for the Yaris).

There are many pros and cons in both approaches. If you are new to
structure, as I was, you will be floundering in trying to cut down a big
EDD, whereas with familiarity it would not be too bad a job. Conversely,
again if you are new to structure, writing your own simple EDD from the
ground up is a great way to learn.

There is also Scriptorium's 'DocFrame' product, which as I understand it
is DocBook tamed: <http://www.scriptorium.com/docframe/index.html>. I
believe that there are people on the list who have used it, although I
haven't. Clearly, you have to pay for it.


Orthogonal to the decision you are battling with, and applying only if
you 'roll your own', is the decision over how much authority you will
give the EDD over formatting. Again, molto argumentos. Some things, such
as indented lists, are easier if the EDD is given some formatting
authority (ie. 'if level 2, set indent to X'), although my current
preference is to keep structure and presentation completely separate,
the first in the EDD  (i.e. 'if list level 2, set para tag X') and the
second in the template. This is in line with what I beleive software
folks refer to as 'the principle of the separation of concerns'.

HTH

-- 
Steve
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Re: Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Marcus Carr]

Joe Malin wrote:


Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software
release, so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself
into structured docs.


Ah, some time to play... ;-)

I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my 
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the

next round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use.
Should I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the
DocBook EDD? My only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it
will have a lot of elements that I don't want to use.


In my opinion, the last sentence hints that you already know the answer 
to your question. My long-standing belief is that if you try to 
structure your data in accordance with what tools you currently have at 
hand, you're focusing on the wrong issue. Your documents have an 
inherent structure, and you should respect and support it. There is a 
cost to every single XPath that you don't use, so something like DocBook 
can be a very expensive approach. If you cut it down, you'll often find 
that you're left with the right elements, but the names may not be what 
you'd choose yourself. Also, DocBook is very loosely structured, so you 
may want to tighten up the models - by the time you go through all of 
this, you may as well have just done the analysis yourself and started 
with the pre-existing (but implied) structure of your documents.


Although there may be good reasons for going to DITA, I've never had 
reason to do so, as I feel that the benefits gained from standardisation 
would quickly dry up as soon as you started customising. I'd be inclined 
to convert to DITA as a final process if you really had a need to mix 
and match modules, but I would probably choose a more descriptive syntax 
for data creation and management.



Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route,
would be much appreciated.


Fifteen years of SGML and XML consulting and publishing and pretty much 
as much involvement with FrameMaker for me. I'm also involved with the 
emerging field of XML Governance, partially because my company has seen 
so many substandard approaches taken to structuring data and the current 
inability to manage XML-based projects effectively.


As you probably know, I have many years experience in software 
development, so developing my own EDD is not an issue.


You're perfectly positioned to start this off right.


--
Regards,

Marcus Carr  email:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
___
Allette Systems (Australia)  www:http://www.allette.com.au
___
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
   - Einstein
___


You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit
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RE: Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Lynne A. Price]

At 03:21 PM 10/8/2006, Joe Malin wrote:

I don't mind writing an EDD from the ground up. What I want to avoid is
producing an EDD that is off-track from easy conversion to DocBook XML.
My overall goal is to convert my unstructured FM to structured FM and
then to XML on the way to HTML. Obviously this will be a long project.


Joe,
  Sounds like you want to create an EDD that is compatible with DocBook 
without being overwhelmed with the number of elements and attributes in 
DocBook. What I do in this situation is:


1) Make a list of all the DocBook elements. One way to do so is to create 
an EDD from DocBook with no r/w rules and from this EDD generate a list of 
all Tag elements.


2) Turn each entry in the list into a drop rule (or generate the list in 
this form to begin with):


   element "x" drop;
   element "y" drop;
   element "z" drop;

3) Review the list and decide which DocBook elements you want to keep. 
Comment out the corresponding rules:


   element "x" drop;
   /* element "y" drop; */
   element "z" drop;

4) Do something similar with attributes.

5) Create a new EDD using the drop rules. FM will not create element 
definitions for the elements you have dropped. Furthermore, it will remove 
mention of them from the general rules of the elements you are retaining. 
The result should be a manageable EDD. You can still use the DocBook DTD.


--Lynne





Lynne A. Price
Text Structure Consulting, Inc.
Specializing in structured FrameMaker consulting, application development, 
and training

[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.txstruct.com
voice/fax: (510) 583-1505 cell phone: (510) 421-2284  



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Re: Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Ellen Lebelle]

Hi Joe,

I work for a small company and I did my own EDD - with the help of
many members on this list. I also "keep structure and presentation
completely separate, the first in the EDD  (i.e. 'if list level 2, set
para tag X') and the second in the template."

I did this as the DITA thing was gaining importance, but since I
started before, I created my own tags in terms that I understand.
(Wasn't that one of the selling points of xml - that you didn't have
to comply with standardized tags?) In the end I think my structure is
very DITA-like (because my mind just happens to work in the same way),
but the tags are not. And, many of the more complex things that go
into the DITA application are missing, so to convert into DITA would
be a challenge. Also, because I was learning as I was doing, there are
probably things that should be cleaned up in my EDD or made simpler.
But it works for us.

If you're just starting out with this now, you might want to take that
into consideration.

Ellen Lebelle (mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
Documentation Manager
KDS
Centre d'Affaires La Boursidière -- BP160
92357 Le Plessis Robinson -- France
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RE: Docbook versus Home-Grown

[Mike Feimster]

Hi Joe,

I had to make a similar decision a couple years ago. I went with the
home-grown approach. I already knew how to create a DTD and EDD, as well
as XSLT, etc. I figured by the time I learned DocBook, cut it down to a
manageable level, added any other customizations, I could have created
my own EDD/DTD.

Also, by creating my own schema, I could take advantage of the inherent
style in my unstructured documents.

Once in XML, it is easy to get to HTML using XSLT. You can also create
HTML Help without spending any money on tools. (If you're attending the
FrameMaker Chautauqua in Austin next month, I'm presenting a session on
this.)

Mike

-Original Message-
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
rs.com] On Behalf Of Joe Malin
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 2:22 PM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Docbook versus Home-Grown

Hi!

 

Well, I *finally* finished the new book for our next software release,
so I can justifiably turn my attention to getting myself into structured
docs.

 

I am not going to go with DITA just yet. My plan is to convert my
existing unstructured docs to structure first, and then start the next
round of docs in DITA. So, my first decision is what EDD to use. Should
I develop an EDD myself from scratch, or start with the DocBook EDD? My
only hesitation in using the DocBook EDD is that it will have a lot of
elements that I don't want to use.

 

Any advice, particularly from those who have gone the same route, would
be much appreciated.

 

As you probably know, I have many years experience in software
development, so developing my own EDD is not an issue.

 

Joe

 


TuVox, Inc.


19050 Pruneridge Avenue Suite 150, Cupertino, CA 95014-0715

Joe Malin

Technical Writer

(408)625.1623

[EMAIL PROTECTED]

www.tuvox.com

The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.

 

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