Re: DITA useful for translation?

Subject: Re: DITA useful for translation?
From: beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Porrello, Leonard" <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:18:11 -0700

Hi Leonard

Flare is XML-based, but produces XHTML files. You can work directly on them
outside of the tool with an open-source editor, and XHTML is a standard, so
I don't think you can say Flare is at all proprietary.

But I guess it's a minor point. Flare doesn't produce XML files, which is
necessary for full DITA support, and H&M does. In fact, I now use XMetaL
because I must produce and edit XML.

I used to think Flare would eventually upgrade to provide full DITA support,
but it would not be practical for them to do so. They have a solid market
niche and can now provide lots of different ways of working with DITA
projects. Although it is import only, generating output can even be done
from a command line to support large, complex projects. It's a flexible,
ingenious tool, and I wish I could still use it.

But as my Dad used to say, you must use "the proper tool for the proper
job". Oh well.

Cheers

Bee

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 11:31 AM, Porrello, Leonard
<lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com>wrote:

> As far as I know, Help & Manual's XML is standards based, not proprietary
> (unlike Flare, which is "proprietary"). In other words, you can work with
> H&M XML files in any XML browser or tool which supports genuine XML.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> kafkascampi
> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 11:22 AM
> To: Chris Gooch; TECHWR-L Writing
> Subject: Re: DITA useful for translation?
>
> "Thanks, Bill, Bee. As far as I can tell the advantages of DITA for
> translation that my project manager had heard about seem to be related to
> the discipline of writing in a topic based way - which we intend to do
> anyhow, regardless of underlying XML schema."
>
> I'd also add that the portability of using an open standard such as DITA is
> very appealing, versus a propietary XML format such as the Help & Manual
> system you described. Of course, you could probably transform everything
> to
> about any XML standard you want, once it's in XML. And I agree with Bill
> upthread that DITA may be too much for your needs right now. We have
> adopted
> it despite the relatively small size of our content, to take advantage of
> reuse, and because semantic markup appealed to our nerdy natures in general
> more than the syntactic Docbook approach. And, hopefully, it will serve us
> well when I rule a vast empire of content that cringes before my every
> step.
>
> Chris
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 10:46 AM, Chris Gooch <chris -dot- gooch -at- rocketmail -dot- com
> >wrote:
>
> >
> > Thanks, Bill, Bee. As far as I can tell the advantages of DITA for
> > translation that my project manager had heard about seem to be related to
> > the discipline of writing in a topic based way - which we intend to do
> > anyhow, regardless of underlying XML schema.
> >
> > cheers,
> > Chris.
> >
> >
> > Christopher Gooch,
> > Sheffield, UK.
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with
> > Doc-To-Help.
> > Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
> > Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
> > http://www.doctohelp.com
> >
> > ---
> > You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as kafkascampi -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
> >
> > To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> > techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > or visit
> >
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/kafkascampi%40gmail.com
> >
> >
> > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >
> > Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> > http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
> >
> > Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> > http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
> >
> >
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with
> Doc-To-Help.
> Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
> Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
> http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/lporrello%40illumina.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with
> Doc-To-Help.
> Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
> Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
> http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as beelia -at- pacbell -dot- net -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/beelia%40pacbell.net
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
http://www.doctohelp.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: DITA useful for translation?: From: Bill Swallow
Re: DITA useful for translation?: From: Chris Gooch
Re: DITA useful for translation?: From: kafkascampi
RE: DITA useful for translation?: From: Porrello, Leonard

Previous by Author: Re: DITA useful for translation?
Next by Author: Re: DITA useful for translation?
Previous by Thread: RE: DITA useful for translation?
Next by Thread: RE: DITA useful for translation?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads