atw: Re: XML - a requirement for a TechWriter looking forwork?
- From: "Warren Lewington" <wjlewington@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:34:58 +1000
Thanks Hedley. I will have a look at w3schools. Incidentgally, DreamWeaver
used to incorporate TopStyle in the package sold by Macromedia.
Regards;
Warren
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hedley Finger
Sent: Thursday, 11 September 2008 09:09
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: XML - a requirement for a TechWriter looking forwork?
Warren:
> I can agree with the below. I spent one day getting a website in CSS
sorted.
> Then four months tweaking the code to get it to work in Netscape,
> FIreFox, Mozilla, IE etc. 4 months...
>
I thought I was embarked on this voyage of discovery until I found YAML (Yet
Another Multicolumn Layout) a freebie under CC licence from
<http://www.yaml.de>. This is an XHTML/CSS framework that provides a
skeleton that addresses all the bugs in the different browsers. You remove
<div>s, add elements, change logos, re-order columns, etc. to get YOUR
design. You can use Dreamweaver but the developer provides a special CSS
file to address its limitations as Dw does not fully support CSS.
Point is it really helps if you know XML and CSS, DOCTYPE, etc. to get the
most out of this framework.
James:
> This article is useful, and it hasn't dated much...
>
> http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/xml/news/dontlearn_0701.html
Well, this is a naughty advertisement for DocBook pure and simple. The
author sets up a straw man and then knocks it down. To learn
*sufficient* XML you don't have to learn all those other X* technologies to
work as technical writer in DocBook, DITA, HP Tag, or whatever. And what
Michael(tm) [yes, that's his name] forgets to tell you is that DocBook
contains an element for every conceivable document component to address all
types of publications from encyclopaedias, acts of parliament, to cafe menus
(I exaggerate only a little).
And too many of the elements have tag names that are quite obscure. The
whole framework is like a set of blueprints for the Empire State Building
merged with those of a Cunard liner when all you want to do is build a
garden shed in the backyard. The DITA specification is much smaller and
specifically targeted at technical communication, so if you want to learn
XML, CSS, etc. go to <http://www.w3schools.com/> first then look at DITA.
Here endeth the sermon,
Hedley
--
Hedley Finger
28 Regent Street Camberwell VIC 3124 Australia
Tel. +61 3 9809 1229 Fax. (call phone first)
Mob. (cell) +61 412 461 558
Email. "Hedley Finger" <hfinger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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