DOCBOOK-APPS: Re: "Abbreviated" DocBook

[Karl Eichwalder <ke at gnu dot franken dot de>]

Kevin Atkinson <kevin@atkinson.dhs.org> writes:

> DocBook is too dam verbose, providing an entry for just about
> everything under the sun.

Try to enable SGML minimization features; but it looks as if you want
to write an m4-to-xml macro system :)

> Although you may disagree with me, it is so verbose that just reading
> a DocBook source document becomes rather difficult.

Emacs/psgml.el is able to hide tags and using xxml.el nifty colorings
are possible.

> At least to me the former is far easier to read and to enter in than
> the latter.  So do you guys know of any utilities.  I looked all over the
> net, but came up empty.  If none exists it is highly likely that I whip up
> something myself.  I honestly would like to know how people can stand
> editing raw DocBook.

It depends ;)  Consider to use Texinfo and convert your Texinfo files
to DocBook using makeinfo from the latest pre-release of the texinfo
package (don't fear to report bugs or other shortcomings!).

> Even with emacs help it is still a bitch to both read and edit.

Some tempo.el templates can do wonders; for reading convert the document
to HTML and use your favorite browser for online reading.

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