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Re: AW: docbook suitable for book - creation ?


Hi Marc,
Thank you for your hints!
I also read Stephan's thesis and came to the conclusion, that it is
too much effort for me to switch from LaTeX to DocBook.
DocBook seems great for large projects, where there are the ressources
to modify the existing and create new Stylesheets and for building
systems for end-users like Stephan and his colleagues do.
But for a single diploma thesis of an enduser it seems a bit of an
overkill in my eyes.
So I will use LaTeX, which I already know, like You recommended.
Thanks!
Peter.


On Sun, 17 Nov 2002 15:32:20 +0100
"Schlienger, Marc" <M.Schlienger@bjoernsen.de> wrote:

> 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.    


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