RE: DOCBOOK-APPS: Help project structure

[mpriestl at ca dot ibm dot com]

Dave Pawson:
>Which would be easier?
>a)To provide a mini DTD for 'glue' which then becomes a topic,
>b)Process glue content as a special?

Most glue really isn't appropriate for treatment as a topic. Topics are
supposed to be independently readable, reusable units of titled information
organized around a single concept, task, or thing. Transitional text
doesn't qualify, and using an otherwise empty topic container for
transitional text is misleading, as well as probably invalid (titles are
required in topics).

Some glue might be at the topic level (like intro and summary topics at the
beginning and end of chapters, but for the between-topic stuff (I'm
thinking a paragraph or so at most, leading the reader into the next topic)
it seems like more trouble than its worth to chunk it out.

>From the author's point of view, I think it makes sense to store the
transitions in the place that the sequence is defined. Topics are stored
outside the map so they can be reused by other maps, but there's no such
requirement on transitional text.

Michael Priestley
DITA Specialization Architect
mpriestl@ca.ibm.com
Dept 833 IBM Canada    t/l: 969-3233    phone: 905-413-3233
Toronto Information Development