discuss: DocBook is a catastrophe
Subject:
Re: [discuss] DocBook is a catastrophe
From:
David Horton ####@####.####
Date:
13 Dec 2005 02:52:07 -0000
Message-Id: <439E3739.3010607@speakeasy.net>
Yves Bellefeuille wrote:
> My Hard Disk Upgrade Mini How-To has been part of the LDP since July
> 1997. I'm working on another How-To, and I've been trying to learn
> DocBook. I'm convinced that this format, at present, is a catastrophe,
> and that we're discouraging many possible contributors by using it.
>
> DocBook is the COBOL of mark-up languages. It's incredibly verbose, and
> doing anything takes much longer than it should.
>
> Perhaps there's a tool to help prepare mark-up, but if so, it's a
> well-kept secret. The LDP Author Guide recommends Eric Raymond's
> "DocBook Demystification HOWTO", and it bluntly states that:
>
> "One thing we presently do not have is a good open-source structure
> editor for SGML/XML documents."
>
> and that:
>
> "Most people still hack the tags by hand using either vi or emacs."
>
> I did try "txt2docbook". It produces DocBook all right, but it's
> completely based on appearance, not structure. It has lots of <para>
> commands, and nothing at all for tables and program listings and so on.
> You might as well use HTML and <pre>.
>
> I'm convinced that we're shooting ourselves in the foot by recommending
> DocBook at this time.
>
There is a nice GUI editor from XMLMind that makes writing DocBook very
easy on the author. Their personal edition is a free download. A short
tutorial at http://www.happy-monkey.net/docbook/gui-editor.html can get
you started quickly.
Dave
