Re: Quick SGML Query

[Jack Shaw <jsh -at- SOFTWARE-AG -dot- DE>]

Adding to Chet Ensign's already extensive list of good SGML info., I'd only
add that the two sources:

SoftQuad's "The SGML Primer"

...and...

E. van Herwijnen's "Practical SGML" by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston
(new second edition--1994)

...should be good starting points. Alone the $.00-priced SGML Primer from
 SoftQuad
is worth the trouble of writing for info., and is easily digestible, and is what
 I
would hand to someone who asked, "What the heck is SGML?". After that, pick and
 choose
from Chet's list. Van Herwijnen's book is what I would call a "working wo/man's
 guide"
to SGML, and practically more useful than founding father Goldfarb's bible,
 IMHappyO.

Laura LeMay's "How to be an instant HTML Whiz" or whatever it's title (sorry,
Laura...) has also gotten good press, for those more interested in the webby
HTML part of the all-contexts-to-everyone SGML world.

As online info. sources go, the SGML-L list in Heidelberg Univ. is pretty much
 (as Chet
already clearly said) overwhelmed by the comp.text.sgml list out of Norway,
 which
comes in digest-like form. But the comp.text.sgml usenet group (run by Eric
 Naggum
in Norway and frequented by rabid SGML advocates--yes, there are other
 alternatives),
has begun charging for its considerable and very active services. So have your
Visa/Mastercharge ready...

Another very active online group is the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), but it
can be intimidating to those not of the guru genre. Search WAIS on the keyword
"TEI" for more.

From this point on, I offer more heat than light ...

Jack Shaw
jsh -at- software-ag -dot- de