TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I went looking for a review article on Docbook XML editors but couldn't
find one. Do any exist? I'm looking for a free or low-cost WYSIWYG
editor for Docbook XML.
I was told that XMLMind's XMLEditor was free; it is, but as far as I can
tell the free edition only supports the Docbook *schema* not the DTD.
I'm not sure that a Docbook "standard" schema exists, which makes me
hesitant. I was also told that Morphon is free, but the makers of
Morphon have apparently closed the book on it.
XMetal seems to be the editor of choice, but it is *not* cheap. I know a
Docbook EDD for FrameMaker exists, but I've heard that it too is
non-standard.
I really want to use Docbook, for two big reasons:
* Many people in my company write various forms of documentation. Since
I'm the only tech writer,
I don't have time to do it all myself! They seem to be very willing to
use XML, and Docbook
would be a great standard to follow.
* I'm constantly fielding requests for existing documentation in
different forms. For example, we want to
provide to a customer some documentation I've written about a
reporting application. I wrote the doc in
HTML for online help, because the reports are accessed online.
Meanwhile, the customer wants to see the
documentation *now*, even though the app itself isn't finished. To do
a printed version takes time and
effort. And some stuff like column definitions for the reports could
be used in many different places.
Joe
Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.
Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
