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.
Subject:Re: SGML & IBM From:Chuck Martin <techwriter -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 13 Apr 1994 11:09:21 PDT
Pat,
While I agree with a lot of your thoughts about SGML, I must beg to
differ when you talk about IBM. Sure, we don't have to deal with how
our documents look. But:
1. IBM books are _ugly_! Among other things, the sans serif font
chosen for body type I find difficult to read, with little
difference between plain and italic.
2. Coding BookMaster tags is like programming; it's not only
difficult, it takes away from the actual writing process.
3. The IBM bureaucracy makes it very difficult to take advantage
of the latest developments in information access. For example,
BookMaster is not set up to allow things such as margin graphics,
a technique that makes information more findable. (Although to
be fair, it can be done after jumping through a heckuva lotta hoops.)
WYSIWYG tools allow the same development of style sheets or templates
and are a lot easier to use.
Chuck Martin
Information Developer, IBM
techwriter -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
