Re: DOCBOOK: newbie help needed!

[damar thapa <damar at netvigator dot com>]

Hi,

Thanks for your pointer.

The content basically is static, so your approach is perfectly fine with 
me.

Since  I found creating XML docbook documents easy, using  XMLmind XML 
editor, I am writing in it.  What I want now is a framework to publish, 
where I can concentrate on presentation and site organisation later as I 
learn xslt.

How slow is cocoon in comparison with the option you suggested? Is it 
significant?

Thanks once again.

Damar




Bob Stayton wrote:

> On Sat, Dec 21, 2002 at 12:05:59PM +0800, damar@netvigator.com wrote:
>  
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am new to this list and new to both XML and docbook.
> >
> > Recently, I installed Apache+tomcat+cocoon and managed to published a
> > docbook article, using docbook dtd and xsl.  It is a very simple
> > publication - docbook xsl installed, docbook article created, and made it
> > point to the xsl. With my very limited XML and XSL knowledge,I could not
> > follow the XSL files for modifications. I at least have the platform for
> > creating documents for the future site (if I cannot call it a site now!).  
> > Now, I read about docbook's website framework for publishing webpages.
> > Again with my limited knowledge, I have no clue how I should start this
> > with -- could not follow the instruction given in the example
> > webpage.
> >
> > Can any one give me some hints on the basics of docbook and website
> > framework? How can I publish example site on cocoon? It may give me some
> > hints afterwards.
> >    
> You haven't described your application much, so it isn't
> clear to me why you want to combine DocBook and Cocoon.
>
> Cocoon is generally used to convert on demand an XML
> document to an HTML document and deliver it over the wire.
> Doing so with DocBook XSL often leads to dissatisfaction
> with the performance, because the DocBook XSL stylesheets
> are big and complex, and don't usually process  within the
> response window most people expect for browsing.  If your
> XML files are fairly static, you might be better off
> converting the XML to HTML outside of Cocoon and simply
> serving the HTML with Apache.  The response time will be
> much better, and you won't be loading down the server
> with a lot of intense DocBook processing.
>
> Website is an extension of the DocBook XSL stylesheets to
> generate a set of web pages that make up the navigational
> tree for a web site.  You create XML input files that define
> the web pages using the website DTD, and then process
> them with the website stylesheet to generate HTML.
> The result is a set of HTML files that contain the
> web pages a user can navigate through on the site.
>
> I don't think you can use website with Cocoon because
> website generates multiple HTML files from the input XML.  
> A server can deliver only one HTML file to a browser in
> a single request.  It could cache the rest of the files,
> but then you might as well just generate the HTML
> ahead of time and serve that with plain Apache.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
> Bob Stayton                                 400 Encinal Street
> Publications Architect                      Santa Cruz, CA  95060
> Technical Publications                      voice: (831) 427-7796
> The SCO Group                               fax:   (831) 429-1887
>                                            email: bobs@sco.com
>
>
>