This discussion is of great interest to the DocBook Technical Committee, as we are
currently developing a DocBook solution for modular content. I believe most of the
problems that have been mentioned here will be addressed.
The first step toward modular content was the introduction of the topic element, which
will debut in DocBook 5.1. A topic element is meant as a standalone module of
content, ready to be assembled into larger documents. Its structure is similar to
section. The placement of topic within existing DocBook elements like book and
chapter is not very important, as those will serve primarily as storage boxes for
topic elements to be assembled.
The other addition in 5.1 will be the assembly element and its descendant elements
like structure, resource and module. An assembly is similar to a DITA map, in that it
contains a set of pointers that define the content and structure of the assembled
document, but not the content itself. But a DocBook assembly is quite different from
a DITA map in many ways.
One of the features will be an option to include content without including the wrapper
element, which permits you to avoid duplicate ID values in an assembled document.
Another is the renderas attribute, which allows you to convert a topic to a chapter,
appendix, or section as needed, or vice-versa.
You can expect to soon see public announcements regarding release of the new schemas
in beta form for testing, as well as some documentation and tools for processing.
Bob Stayton
Sagehill Enterprises
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>;
<[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 1:50 PM
Subject: [docbook] RE: Sections and topics
[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] wrote:
Here's the problem that I am increasingly running into: We have a <section> in one
book that we want to reuse as a <chapter> in another book and vice versa.
<
This does not solve your immediate issue, but I think that the time has really come to
allow <section> at any level. The whole chapter vs. section thing is very
static-book-oriented and does not lend itself well to information reuse.
*************************
Rob Cavicchio
Principal Technical Writer & Information Architect
EMC Captiva
Information Intelligence Group
EMC Corporation
3721 Valley Centre Drive, Ste 200
San Diego, CA 92130
P: (858) 320-1208
F: (858) 320-1010
E: [email protected]
The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions. Content published here is not
read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and
opinions of EMC.
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