AW: DOCBOOK: docbook suitable for book - creation ?

["Schlienger, Marc" <M dot Schlienger at bjoernsen dot de>]

Hello Peter,

let me give you my opinion, despite the fact I'm quite new as well in the
DocBook world...

DocBook experts, do not hesitate to point out if I'm wrong...

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von:	Peter Wilm [SMTP:listen@peterwilm.de]
> Gesendet am:	Sonntag, 17. November 2002 14:35
> An:	docbook@lists.oasis-open.org
> Betreff:	DOCBOOK: docbook suitable for book - creation ?
> 
> Hi,
> The literature for docbook - newbies (e.g. DocBook: The Definitive
> Guide) concentrates on the creation of the structured content.
> However, as I consider learning docbook for writing my thesis, I would
> also like to know how to produce a printed version of the book. I do
> have highly specific constraints regarding the Layout: e.g. the size
> of the left / right page margin, etc.
> So the layout is specified in the stylesheet, which is written in XSL
> or DSSL, I suppose ?
	[Schlienger, Marc]  yes, that's true. You can then adapt it to your
needs by following these steps (it gets from easy for simple changes, to
difficult for complex layout wishes)
	1. set some xsl parameters as you wish (for instance, body margin
size, title margin size, paper size, etc.)
	2. write a stylesheet customization layer for more options: custom
title page, sets of attributes, custom headers/footers, etc.
	3. fine tune your customization layer with custom templates for
chapters, sections.
	4. write your own stylesheets?

> Is there any online literature suitable for beginners ?
	[Schlienger, Marc]  go there: http://docbook.org/wiki/moin.cgi/

> So, if I want to create a suitable layout for my thesis - not for 
> some thesis - but to fullfill the specifications that *I* got - will
> it be easy to learn to write the stylesheet (i.e. in a few days) ?
	[Schlienger, Marc]  step 1 == less than a day, ----> step 4 == one
week if you are new to stylesheets

> With LaTeX everything seems clear to me - but the switch LaTeX ->
> docbook is a bit difficult if you have to print the XML - document to
> a PDF file in a concrete specified Layout ?
	[Schlienger, Marc]  if you already know LaTeX, I would suggest write
your thesis in LaTeX. But if you absolutely want to learn DocBook, then
write it in DocBook, and use the db2latex stylesheet to produce LaTeX from
DocBook, then you are again in your world to perform whatever you want.

> I got the impression that layout doesn't matter to the docbook
> community...
	[Schlienger, Marc]  I believe the print layout is still in its early
stages for DocBook, since it builds mostly on Formated Objects (FO) and FOP,
the processor for FO, is still in version 0.20... Well, you can use
PassiveTex (fo-->pdf using TeX), but it won't produce such a nice layout as
does LaTeX.

	DocBook was first designed for Software Documentation. If your
thesis covers more general stuff, then maybe LaTeX is better. I find DocBook
great, among the most powerful characteristics is the single sourcing. You
might not need this, or am I wrong? Maybe you want Html and PDF output.
LaTeX is good for that.

	DocBook is more structured than LaTeX, so it won't be a problem to
produce LaTeX from DocBook, but the opposite isn't true.

	I hope this helps you to decide.

	Marc.