Re: [Pyobjc-dev] quick documentation format survey

[<sp...@al...>]

Le jeudi, 31 oct 2002, =E0 09:48 Europe/Paris, Steven D. Arnold a =E9crit =
:

> SimTex looks very impressive.  It seems to provide for all needed=20
> formats
> except Apple Help Format, for which we could add a Python backend.  It
> appears to be a fairly mature project from my brief look at it.

Thanks :)

SimTex has not been yet publicly released, but it is near a finalised=20
version. The only problem is that documentation is not completed yet,=20
and that some advanced features lack (custom markup, appendices).=20
Orchid=E9eNoire, the SimTex document processor, will also soon support=20=

DocBook as an output format, and it might be relatively easy to output=20=

Apple Help Format (conversion is made using XSLT) - if someone points=20
me out some doc on Apple Help Format, I would be able write the=20
transformation stylesheet soon!

> Overall, I like SimTex best because (1) It's written in Python; (2)=20
> Uses an
> OSI license (GPL); (3) Looks more-or-less like regular text before =
it's
> compiled to another format, hence any text editor is a good authoring=20=

> tool;
> and (4) The author is right here with us if questions arise.

If you use SimTex, you can be assured that I will do my best to make=20
SimTex meet your needs and fix remaining bugs. Same thing for=20
Orchid=E9eNoire.

BTW, the difference between SimTex and Orchid=E9eNoire might be unclear,=20=

so here is a small explaination:

  - SimTex is a structured text to XML processor, it allows to produce=20=

valid XML without writing XML
  - Orchid=E9eNoire is an XML application similar to DocBook, but aimed =
at=20
simplicity, and also a document processing chain, that uses XSLT as its=20=

transformation language. It currently supports HTML, PS, PDF, plain=20
text and Lout.

I personally also think that SimTex/Orchid=E9eNoire is one of the most=20=

versatile solution and that you will never get stuck with it ;). The=20
API is open and comprehensible, the format is XML and transformations=20
are easily made with XSLT. As I mentioned, apart from a few usability=20
bugs (command line options) and an incomplete reference manual,=20
SimTex/Orchid=E9eNoire would ease the process of editing and producing=20=

documentation.

If you want to subscribe to the SimTex mailing list, simply send a mail=20=

to <sim...@ty...>. If you want to have some help on=20
possible list manager commands, send to <sim...@ty...>. For=20
those having troubles installing 4Suite, I will try to make SimTex work=20=

with PyXML only.

Thanks for your interest in SimTex,

  -- S=E9bastien

--
=ABAnd never can a man be more disastrously in death than when death
itself shall be deathless.=BB
<http://www.type-z.org>                     -- St. Augustine