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Subject:RE: HOTTEST TOOLS MAN! From:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 7 Oct 2002 13:50:04 -0400
Was going to stay out of this but.....
I think the first big error is to consider XML or SGML as tools. At best,
consider them a technology. But even then keep in mind that they are only
metalanguages to define markup. Neither DO anything.
Really the technologies involving SGML/XML are the proposals and standards for
links, pointers, namespaces, parsers, etc. The tools are those applications that
can then implement these technologies.
<<XML is about data so it doesn't lend itself to a WYSIWYG like HTML, which is
about display. The Frame 7 approach does seem a step closer but I've haven't
played with it.
It seems that if tech pubs want XML for documentation, tech writers in general
need to wean themselves from reliance on WYSIWYG tools and learn how to dig into
the code.>>
Unless you're developing applications or making DTDs, there is no particular
need to know XML 'code'. Don't over complicate what XML is either. It can be
about data or display, or both. Depends on the use it's being put to. HTML is a
perfectly valid SGML instance that's purely about display. You can make a fully
display oriented XML instance as well. That is what XSL and XSLT are all about
to a large extent afterall.
Also, all hype aside, there's little conceptually different between SGML and
XML. The 'simpler' XML is now probably far more complex considering all the
possibilities now available than SGML was. But the complexity of YOUR
apllication depends on you uses, the intent of the application and which of the
many different parts of the SGML/XML standards you are trying to
implement/support.
There's alot of misinformation and misconceptions out there.......
Eric L. Dunn
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