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Mark Weinem wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 16:51:53 -0400
> From: James K. Lowden <jklowden@schemamania.org>
> To: netbsd-docs@NetBSD.org
> Subject: Re: why XML?
> 
> Mark Weinem wrote:
>>> I thought mdoc(7) provided all the necessary features for simultaneous
>>> publication of documentation in various forms
> 
> How do you define a URL in mdoc?  Does it become an HREF anchor when
> converted to HTML?  What about a GUI component?  How do you include a
> graphic?
> 
>>> If folks want more structured (and truly structured) documentation
>>> then I could only recommend Lout (pkgsrc/textproc/lout) as it is light
>>> years beyond anything-TeX or troff-like and still light years beyond
>>> anything-ML too.
> 
> I don't understand how you can recommend it.  The PDF backend is
> officially deprecated, and I see no HTML backend.
> 
>>> I'd personally be happier with raw troff or even raw TeX than
>>> anything-ML.  There's nothing in the textual/documentation world more
>>> difficult and more complex to read, parse, or manage than *ML files.
> 
> The evidence stands against you, though.  Many very large documentation
> projects rely on DocBook.
e.g. Gnome, FreeBSD
> 
> None of the systems you mention afaik have anything like DocBook
> stylesheets.  I don't see separation of content from format.  Take the
> <screen> tag for example (http://www.docbook.org/tdg/en/html/screen.html).
>  How would you impose uniform formatting of screenshots unless every
> instance of a screen is so designated?
> 
> DocBook is not perfect for everything.  When my daughter's school papers
> began including footnotes, I set her up with LaTeX, not DocBook, for
> heaven's sake.  Right tool for the job.  She's not trying to maintain
> technical documentation.
docbook is ideal for technical doc.
> 
> DocBook is neither an accident nor a fad.  It demonstrably yields good
> HTML and printed output.  It is well documented and actively worked on.  I
> would also guess that of any system you might mention, it has the most
> practitioners.  For those reasons alone it's the best available choice.
> 
> Respectfully,
> 
> --jkl
> 
Yes truly seconded :)


Regards
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
Adam Hamsik
ICQ 249727910
jabber haad@jabber.org
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand
binary numbers, and those who don't.
				
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