This is the mail archive of the
docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org
mailing list .
Re: DocBook with AbiWord?
- From: "Matt G." <matt_g_ at hotmail dot com>
- To: docbook-apps at lists dot oasis-open dot org
- Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 04:31:13 +0000
- Subject: DOCBOOK-APPS: Re: DocBook with AbiWord?
- Bcc:
>From: Rafael 'Dido' Sevilla <sevillar@team.ph.inter.net>
>Subject: Re: DOCBOOK-APPS: DocBook with AbiWord?
>Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 13:59:06 +0800
>
>>writing my articles. But it's not apparent how I could get full
>>use of docbook from AbiWord. I asked about this on the
>>abiword-dev@abisource.com mailing list, but I thought I'd ask
>>here too, if anyone has any tips on using AbiWord to make
>>docbook documents.
>
>Well, short version is you can't, not really because...
>
>>AbiWord is an open source WYSIWYG word processor.
>
>That's the point. Any WYSIWYG processor will by necessity wind
>up using docbook as a formatting language, which is most
>definitely NOT what docbook was designed to be. Maybe a more
Amen to that! My favorite quote on the subject is:
The trouble with WYSIWYG is that what you see is all you get.
-- Brian Kernighan
IMO, this is *not* religious war material. It's just a simple tradeoff: if
a word processor suits your needs, then don't bother with the complexity of
DocBook. If you need its power & flexibility, then it will come at a price
(though there are things you can do to minimize this -- see below).
If you want the benefits of DocBook with as little hassle as possible, then
get a good, DTD-aware XML editor. My suggestion is then to download the
HTML copy of _DocBook: The Definitive Guide_ (get it from docbook.org), and
keep it open in a browser. In my opinion, working that way is actually
*easier* than clicking through cryptic menus and dialog boxes of any of
these GUI-based word processors I've used.
I work this way (though I use vi), even though I own a printed copy of TDG
(which was very useful for getting started & reading while away from the
computer).
DocBook is so thoroughly documented, in the reference section of TDG, that
99% of the time, it concisely provides *exactly* what you need to know. I
claim that, working that way, a newbie can be 90% up the learning curve, in
an afternoon, so long as you already have all your tools setup properly.
BTW, I especially like that the refentrys, in TDG, have "processing
expectations", "See Also", an alphabetized list of the children, a list of
an element's parents, and often even examples.
Matt Gruenke
_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com