Re: [Firebird-docs] Re: Docs on the go

[Paul V. <pa...@vi...>]

Hi Lester,

[ DocBook ]

> I've had a couple of goes at trying to use it, but I simply can't
> get on with it.
> I need to be able to manage pages and small documents in isolation,
> and DocBooks is just too cumbersome for that.

It is possible: I manage documents both in isolation and as a linked
set, but this also involves the transformation stylesheets and their
parameters, so that's an additional learning curve...

Anyway I didn't mean to say that the Wiki or the Firefly approach is
not good. Low-treshold online systems where everyone can contribute
have their own dynamics and can be very useful. I just wonder if there
should be a Wiki *and* the Firefly system - if there will be enough
contributors for both, and if both systems have enough unique features
to warrant their simultaneous existence. I must say that I was
impressed with the PDFs that Nigel's engine produced. I know very
little about Wikis and their strong points.

> I produce all of my on-line documentation as linked html, rather
> than linear documents, and I think that is what breaks DocBook?

"breaks" under what circumstances? Did you feed the HTML to a DocBook
authoring tool, or did you try to produce the HTML from DocBook
sources? Producing linked HTML from DocBook XML is a sinch (given
the right tools, like the ones we have in the manual module).

> That said it is probably me that is broken ;)

Play some John Lee Hooker: Blues is the Healer :-)


Greetings,
Paul Vinkenoog