Jean Hollis Weber wrote:
Gary Schnabl wrote:
Maybe it's time for a well written How-to on some of these exports,
etc. because I and others might not want to go back through the
recent posts, especially for us who do not retain all of them.
Gary,
Maybe I'm just slow and fuzzy today, but what do you have in mind for
a "how-to" on exports? A checklist of things to consider when making
layout decisions in the original ODT file, because of the effects on
exported files? Or something else?
I've never even tried using most of the export (or even save-as)
formats that OOo provides, other than PDF export and now a bit of
MediaWiki export, so I don't know what people might need or want to know.
DocBook is a big candidate for a good writeup: I know so little about
DocBook export and import (and working with DocBook files) that I have
trouble even asking an intelligent question. I've read some of the
info on the subject but have been unable to translate it into anything
that makes sense to me in practical terms... and the tools I've heard
about all seem to either cost a lot or be too techie for me, or I have
to work about the embedded XML codes. What I want to do is open a
DocBook file in OOo and edit it there, then save it out again. I'm not
concerned about the specifics of layout, but I definitely don't want
the codes in my way.
--Jean
Some information about DocBook or XML:
XML is not concerned with formatting documents but with their content.
Formatting XML content is performed with style sheets or some such files
used with the particular software involved. In our case, these could
most likely be OOo, with MS Word or FrameMaker also used in the real
world of authoring (or drafting of templates by those more advanced).
OOO 2.3 (plus my older FrameMaker 7.0--some five years old) seemingly
uses DocBook 4.1.2, which was issued in December 2003. DocBook 4.5 was
released in its present form in October 2006. So, it appears that OOo is
not current with the most current DocBook version.
However, DocBook 5 is scheduled to be the official DocBook version
sometime in August 2007--maybe even by now. This version will be a break
from the W3 to the RELAX NG Schema.
Because OOo is somewhat tardy in its DocBook XML implementation, what
version of DocBook should be used for documentation--the older 4.1.2,
the current 4.5 (due to be superseded in a matter of days and is not yet
implemented by OOo 2.3 anyways), or the soon-to-be official DocBook 5
(even further from any OOo implementation)?
The real question is when will OOo ever adopt DocBook 5? This should
obviously be the focus of any serious writing of XML for OOo. However, a
chapter or so based on DocBook 4.1.2 should be the first attempt by
OOoAuthors and later incorporate DocBook 5 (which is quite a bit
different from 4.1.2) by the time that OOo ever gets around to being
current in its XML.
I spent some time recently going over (and rewriting a short version for
my own FM benefit) an XML tutorial produced by Adobe for its FM 7.0. It
was somewhat useful, although it was not accurately written (includes
some unnecessary nonsensical steps for some reason--possibly from
improperly being cut-and-pasted from an earlier FM version--and it did
not discuss some practicalities).
So, I now feel quite comfortable editing any future OOo XML tutorial or
instructional chapter for the /Writer Guide/. Still, we need somebody to
author it/them.
--
Gary Schnabl
2775 Honorah
Detroit MI 48209
(734) 245-3324
