RE: DOCBOOK-APPS: XMLSPY and DocBook

["HAMILTON,DICK (HP-FtCollins,ex1)" <dick_hamilton at hp dot com>]

Corey,

We use XMLSPY and emacs for XML authoring, and have also
tried out Epic and XMetal.  I agree with the responses that
suggest you look at Epic and XMetal seriously.  They seem
to be the leaders for full featured commercial products,
and are the ones we'd choose for heavy lifting (we're also
looking at Frame 7, since we currently use Frame+SGML 6
for SGML editing, but we don't yet have enough experience
with FM7 and XML to express an opinion).

That said, we have had good success with both XMLSPY and
emacs, but we mostly have used them with subsets of DocBook
and with other, smaller, DTDs.

But, regardless of what you choose, our experience is that
the authors need to become familiar with the markup to be
effective.  You can make it easier by using simplified
docbook, rolling your own subset, and setting up the editor
properly, but I don't see a way to eliminate the need for
authors to know something about the markup.  Fortunately,
our authors have not had much trouble getting familiar
enough to use DocBook effectively, but there is a learning
curve (you might look for authors familiar with troff or
TeX; after those, XML looks easy:).

Dick Hamilton
dick_hamilton@hp.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Corey Arnold [mailto:corey@wubios.wustl.edu]
> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 1:49 PM
> To: docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: DOCBOOK-APPS: XMLSPY and DocBook
> 
> 
> Hi,
> I am considering using DocBook to create a Manual of 
> Procedures.  Ideally 
> I'd like to do so in an environment that is easy for those who are 
> unfamiliar with programming and mark up to understand.  
> Currently I am 
> trying to use XMLSPY.  If someone has attempted this before I 
> would very 
> much appreciate input into the feasibility of this plan or if 
> someone can 
> suggest an information resource that would be great too.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Corey
> 
>