Summary - quick SGML survey

Subject: Summary - quick SGML survey
From: Jeroen Hendrix <jhe -at- POLYDOC -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 11:25:28 +0100

About two weeks ago, I asked what SGML editors you knew and used. I
received many responses which I summarized in this posting. Many thanks to
(in random order):Scott Wahl, Larry D. Gross, Alfred Barten, Jen Dupuis,
Vic Fragnito, Becky Roberts, Robert Garland, Philip Sharman, Robert
McMartin and Greg Lenihan.

The SGML editors that came up were the following:

Adobe FrameMaker+SGML - was mentioned 8 times
Adept Editor by Arbortext - also 8
SoftQuad Author/Editor - 1
DL Composer (for generating) - 1
Interleaf - 1

So the SGML battle is between FrameMaker and Arbortext.

The full responses to my questions can be found under here

The questions were:
1. Which SGML editors do you know?
2. Which SGML editor do you use, and why this particular one?
3. What kind of organization do you work for (branch, size, etc)?
4. Why do you need SGML as output?

Scott Wahl:
1. I've used SoftQuad Author/Editor, Adobe FrameMaker+SGML.....tested many
others,
but that was 2+ years ago.
2. Adobe FrameMaker+SGML. Primarily because it's support for SGML is fairly
robust, friendly interface for authors, and allows high-quality printing
from
same source files.
3. Worked for 3+ years at telecommunications company with 4,000 employees.
Now
work work software company with 50+ people.
4. Right now, do not use SGML output. Use FrameMaker+SGML to print and also
to
generate HTML. The advantage of being in SGML is that is provides a
structured
template for authors to maintain consistency, separates doc structure from
formatting, and allows output to SGML in the future, as document and
company
grows. Much easier to move to XML for Web publishing from SGML source than
from HTML.

Larry D. Gross:
1. FrameMaker and Arbortext for editing and DL Composer for generating.
2. Same as above. Management decision.
3. Aerospace/Defense Contractor
4. Contractual requirement.

Alfred Barten:
I don't personally use an SGML editor, yet, but a number of tech writers
and engineers here do. They use Adept Editor by ArborText and
FrameMaker+SGML by Adobe. We are a defense contractor with a long history
with SGML. A special business unit of our company, TechSight, produces
IETMs (interactive electronic technical manuals) for the military and
commercial customers. They also market shrink-wrapped SGML-based software:
TechSight Web, TechSight Viewer, TechSight Publisher's Kit, and TechSight
Developer's Kit as well as an electronic classroom. Their web page is
www.TechSightHome.com.

Jen Dupuis:
1. I only know Adept Editor, but not well.
2. I don't use an SGML editor. We use Word to create simple SGML files, and
then run a conversion to turn them into true SGML. To edit an SGML
document, we use Notepad.
3. I work for a publishing company.
4. We use SGML to capture information from associations' brochures (with
headings, lists, paragraphs, etc.). It's pretty simple stuff. We then
convert it to RTF for display in our electronic (CD-ROM and internet)
products.

Vic Fragnito:
1. FrameMaker + SGMl and ArborText
2. FrameMaker + SGMl cost and WYSIWYG view. Print capability off the
shelf plus corporate decision
ArborText native SGML authoring for drop in data to Customer
3. Aerospace Engines 6000 strong
4. Reuse of data and portability across national boundaries.

Becky Roberts:
Jeroen, we use two SGML editors at my company. One group uses AdeptEditor
from
ArborText. The other group, which has to support international clients,
elected to go with FrameMaker + SGML. We have not tried yet, but we
understand
that Frame and AdeptEditor can work on the same files provided that the DTD
and
EDD are set up. Frame + SGML is about 1/3 as much money and includes 17
language dictionaries with it. It is $200 per license to add each
additional
language for AdeptEditor.

Robert Garland:
1. Arbortext
2. Arbortext. It is what the company wanted to use. I was just a worker
bee, with no choice in the matter.
3. What kind of organization do you work for (branch, size, etc)?
This was a large branch of a 40,000 person corporation. The SGML was
used on a project for a client. The corporation did use another version
of Arbortext for internal material.
4. For the project, because the U.S. Government, who was the client,
required it.

Philip Sharman
1. FrameMaker+SGML
2. FrameMaker+SGML,I like FrameMaker, and this gives us the option of using
regular FrameMaker
for documents which don't require SGML.
3. A small start-up software company. We employ about a dozen people.
4. Hopefully, we will grow larger and we hope that SGML will let us re-use
our
documentation and extract useful things from it. (I'm not sure if it
actually _will_ do
that, but that's the hope anyway :-)

Robert McMartin
1. Frame Maker + SGML, Interleaf, Adept SGML Editor>
2. Adept Editor it was the cheapest without having to get a new server.
3. Defence organisation, 2200 people
4. All output must be CALS compliant.

Greg Lenihan:
1. Arbortext ADEPT Editor I know well. Haven't used Framemaker + SGML or
others.
2. ADEPT Editor. Heard it was one of the best so my company decided on
this one.
3. Our branch has about 15 people working with SGML.
4. Government says they want documents in this format because of the JCALS
initiative -- although they do not put much emphasis on it.

***************************************************************************
*****************************
Everyone, thanks again for you time and trouble,

Jeroen Hendrix
PolyDoc
The Netherlands

Mail to jhe -at- polydoc -dot- com
Web: www. polydoc.com

From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=




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