RE: RE: XML-based Help Authoring tools for customized help

Subject: RE: RE: XML-based Help Authoring tools for customized help
From: "Char James-Tanny" <CharJT -at- helpstuff -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 22:08:09 -0500


Hi, David :-)

> Which flavour of emacs do you use? I know zippo about emacs,
> although I use
> Linux on a daily basis, and vi sometimes. I'm curious to know
> if DTD support
> is "standard".

I don't believe so. I have to hit a keystroke combination when I first open
an SGML file to load the correct DTD and get emacs in the correct "mode"
(something someone else at the company provided to all). Without it, the
spacing is off and I can't use what little emacs functionality I know ;-)

I'm using 21.3, with psgml.

> Pardon my ignorance, but "...AuthorIT has less of a learning
> curve than DocBook.."?
> Isn't the first a tool and the second a DTD? How do you
> compare them? I'm not
> educated enough in this area to argue, it just rings hollow....

Naw, it's just plain wrong ;-) I didn't have to learn much about DocBook,
other than what tags this company uses for its docs (they use about half of
those available).

It's emacs that has a bit of a curve...I'm very good now at opening my
files, saving them, and closing them, but darned if I can keep track of the
numerous keystrokes that will save me time when entering tags.

On the plus side, when I make the output (typically PDF and HTML), the error
checking lets me know where I goofed...anything from a missing closing tag
to incorrect structure. Then I just have to get back into the file to fix
it.

> I'm trying to put together a plan for a combination of SEs,
> SMEs and a writer
> or two to write, edit and publish doco using a systematic and
> efficient
> process, and DocBook or Simplified DocBook, Epic, AuthorIT,
> IntelliJ, Serba,
> Word2003 and FrameMaker are all in the soup at the moment, so
> this discussion
> is 110% relevant to what I'm doing.

Mark's post is where you want to start...figure out what it is you need to
do, then figure out how you can get there.

In Karen's case, I went to a tool as a possible solution because it meets
the functionality (output-wise) that she needs. It might not be the answer
still...

Char



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References:
Re: RE: XML-based Help Authoring tools for customized help: From: David O'Brien

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