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Subject:FW: [Short] XML in Documentation From:"Bill Lawrence" <scribe -at- matrixplus -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 30 Jan 2003 08:24:28 -0500
I'm assuming that you're asking about using XML tools, so here goes:
I'm using Docbook XML as the tag set, and the Modular Docbook
Stylesheets as the transformation mechanism to turn the Docbook source
into FO, HTMLHelp, and HTML. As none of the open-source FO to PDF/PS
converters are currently of "professional quality," I'm using XEP to
create PDF files.
At my previous employer, we used the above tools to transform about
10,000 pages of documentation into these formats every day.
My editor is Corel Xmetal, although Arbortext Epic will do as well.
XMLSpy is, in my opinion, a poor second in capabilities when compared
with the above. There are a lot of open-source XML editors, but they
all lack the nice features of Xmetal and Epic. Also, Xmetal and Epic
contain transformation scripts that convert Word to Docbook, which come
in very handy in most environments. The converters are customizable in
both editors.
Graphics are created using OpenOffice Draw, which is open-source and
roughly comparable to Adobe Illustrator in capability.
Video screen captures for procedural demonstrations are captured in
Camstudio, also open-source. Think of this as a free Snagit.
If you enter the names of the above tools into any reasonable search
engine, you'll be able to track them down.
Good luck!
Bill Lawrence
Senior Technical Writer
Matrix Solutions
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