atw: Re: XML - a requirement for a TechWriter looking forwork?
- From: peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: geoffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:48:21 +0800
Geoffrey:
Nothing quite like an extended metaphor, but let me put it this way.
I don't have to be a qualified mechanic to drive a car, anymore than
I have to be a C# programmer to use some accounting software.
But if I want to be a competent driver, it helps to know:
1. which bit the engine is under (VW drivers please note)
2. which holes take water and which take petrol
3. to use petrol in the tank instead of kerosene, and which type of
petrol
3. what to do about a flat tyre
4. what to do about a flat battery.
And a few miscellaneous "specialised" items, even such things as what
gear to use going up a hill, and how to handle a rear wheel skid and
a front wheel skid are things that are extremely useful (and hard to
follow if you don't understand the mechanics of what's going on so
you can detect a problem beforehand).
Of course you can drive a car without really knowing all of these
things. But doing it well does seem to require a few of the above
"specialist" items. I can get in and start an engine, get a car into
gear, turn a wheel, etc for a while, and that's driving, but it's not
effective driving for long if I don't know at least something about
the other "stuff".
And just as I'm going to look bloody silly trying to pull the load of
a B-double with a Toyota Corolla, it's important to know the limits
of what can be done and ideally, why those limits apply, so that I
don't waste time attempting the impossible.
If you really want to know how to use structured documentation based
on XML, it really is very important to know a bit about what's going
on under the bonnet, unless you don't mind dying wondering...
I earlier mentioned that knowing how to fix stuff (which implies
knowing how stuff works) is a handy skill to have if you want to work
effectively and economically.
That's as true with documentation tools as it is with cars.
When everything works, it's all rosy in the garden. Don't know
about your garden, but we still have aphids, bugs, washaways, soggy
bits etc in our garden. And people have been gardening for centuries.
Dreamweaver works ?
Yes, maybe. It didn't usta write valid HTML, and those of us who used
it then were grateful for any insight into how to make its output
work properly. It usually meant hacking changes in the raw HTML.
You could be a tech writer working with only plain text. Somewhere.
Used to happen. Once upon a time.
--Peter M
>
>
>---- Original Message ----
>From: geoffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: RE: atw: Re: XML - a requirement for a TechWriter looking
>forwork?
>Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:02:45 +1000
>
>>Hi austechies.
>>
>>Tony is right when he says that XML is already pretty much
>everywhere. But
>>this is not the point. The current thread began with a question as
>to
>>whether XML is "becoming part of a requirement for a Tech Writer",
>and the
>>simple answer is that, despite the apparent ubiquity of XML, you no
>more
>>need to know XML to be technical writer than you need to know HTML
>to
>>produce a web page. And this is not likely to change in the near
>future.
>>
>>A parallel: there are scores of applications out there that run on
>C# and
>>.NET, but that doesn't mean that we need to know C# and .NET to use
>them;
>>likewise, there are scores of applications out there that use XML,
>but the
>>users don't need to know XML to use them. To take one of Tony's
>examples:
>>journalists use XML to produce your daily newspaper, but journalists
> don't
>>need to know XML to produce their stories. All the XML is behind the
>scenes.
>>Tony also mentioned GMAIL. It seems like everyone on the planet has
>a GMAIL
>>account...but probably 99.9% of GMAIL users happily get by without a
>clue as
>>to what XML is or does. In a later email, Tony criticises me for
>saying that
>>you don't need XML to convert Visio files to Illustrator files; but
>again
>>this is missing the point of this thread. There may well be XML code
>sitting
>>behind the format-conversion routines, but the user DOESN'T NEED TO
>KNOW XML
>>to convert a Visio file to an Illustrator file.
>>
>>So to go back to Nikki's question: no, you don't need to know about
>XML to
>>work as a technical writer (despite XML code sitting behind all
>modern
>>authoring tools). In the near future, you will probably enhance your
>>employment prospects if you know something about structured
>authoring (for
>>Tony is right in saying that more and more documentation will be
>>structure-based not format-based, but certainly not all). But
>structured
>>authoring and XML are not the same thing. And even if, perchance, we
>have to
>>interact directly with XML (because of a poor choice of authoring
>tools)
>>then we would (as some do now) interact with it through an interface
>that
>>takes away the necessity and pain of learning XML itself...exactly
>as we now
>>build HTML pages using an interface application (such as Dreamweaver
>or
>>FrontPage) that saves us the trouble of having to learn anything
>about HTML.
>>(Yes, Peter Martin, it's good to know some HTML if you encounter a
>bug in a
>>Dreamweaver file; but, crikey, you surely can't expect me to learn
>C# to
>>help me when I encounter a bug in, say, MYOB Accounting Plus. A nice
>to
>>have, surely; but not a necessity. Put another way, and keeping to
>the
>>thrust of this thread, you wouldn't say that knowing C# is becoming
>part of
>>a requirement for a bookkeeper on the grounds that there are bugs in
>>bookkeeping software.)
>>
>>So, Nikki, just as a web designer can get away without knowing
>anything
>>about CSS inheritance, a technical writer can, and will, be able to
>get away
>>without needing to know what, say, #PCDATA means.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>
>>Geoffrey Marnell
>>Principal Consultant
>>Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
>>T: (+61 3) 9596 3456
>>F: (+61 3) 9596 3625
>>W: http://www.abelard.com.au
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Anthony
>Self
>>Sent: Wednesday, 10 September 2008 3:41 PM
>>To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Subject: atw: Re: XML - a requirement for a TechWriter looking
>forwork?
>>
>>Dear Nikki and all
>>
>>When Dave Halls advised technical writers to "learn XML", he was
>giving good
>>counsel. Not wanting to put words in his mouth, his more explicit
>advice
>>might have been to "learn the basics and principles of XML so you
>can
>>understand what it all means".
>>
>>XML is bigger than Ben Hur. It is a bigger initiative than the World
>Wide
>>Web. XML is a set of building blocks for the categorisation, storage
>and
>>retrieval of all human knowledge. It is impossible to learn
>everything there
>>is to know about XML, because of the length and breadth of the
>technology.
>>XML has already affected many aspects of our personal and business
>lives.
>>Journalists use it to produce your newspaper. iPods use it for
>podcasting.
>>Amazon uses it to help you choose books to buy. Bloggers use it.
>GMail uses
>>it to provide a richer Web mail client. RoboHelp uses it to store
>its
>>project file settings. OpenOffice uses it to store office documents
>in an
>>international standard format. Scholars use it to understand
>Sumerian
>>literature. The Bureau of Stats uses it to distribute census data.
>And so
>>on.
>>
>>In the documentation field, authoring tools are built around XML. If
>your
>>tool is not XML-based, it's out-of-date, and probably about to be
>redundant.
>>Frame is XML-based. Flare is XML-based. Word 2007 is XML-based.
>OpenOffice
>>is XML-based. AuthorIt is XML-based. Firefox is XML-based.
>>
>>It is possible that you can stumble on, perhaps even using Word or
>Frame,
>>and be blissfully unaware of what XML is. Perhaps you can continue
>to make a
>>living for many years to come without understanding one jot of XML.
>But Dave
>>Halls' talk and advice related to professional development. If you
>want to
>>progress in your profession, you must understand XML and its
>impacts. There
>>are more relevant changes to our working mode just around the
>corner. Moving
>>from style-based authoring to structured authoring is perhaps the
>biggest
>>change. The return on investment of structured authoring using DITA
>(another
>>XML-based technology/methodology) is potentially enormous. At the
>moment,
>>the tools haven't quite caught up to the technology, so it is a
>little early
>>for many organisations to move to this approach, but in a year or
>two,
>>everyone will be moving in that direction.
>>
>>You won't understand DITA and structured authoring unless you
>understand
>>(the basics and principles of) XML. Because XML is so big, it's best
>to
>>start now, rather than try to catch on when it's too late!
>>
>>Finally, I have had the pleasure of working on a number of DITA
>projects, as
>>well as teaching it, and it is an extremely rewarding thing to work
>with as
>>a writer.
>>
>>Tony Self
>>
>>
>>>>> "Nikki Ward" <Nikki.Ward@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 10/09/08 9:32 AM >>>
>>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>If you have some time, I would like some feedback on this
>presentation
>>supplied to the QLD Tech Writers group.
>>
>>I just thought it rather interesting that "Learn XML" is becoming
>part of a
>>requirement for a Tech Writer who is looking for work.
>>
>>...
>>-----
>>Swinburne University of Technology
>>CRICOS Provider Code: 00111D
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