Re: Giving up on XML

Subject: Re: Giving up on XML
From: quills -at- airmail -dot- net
To: "techwhirlers" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:16:25 -0500

At 11:01 PM -0700 3/13/07, Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
>XML *documents* are often (but not necessarily) structured, and
>it is probably true that that will always need to be done manually,
>just as converting a single Word doc file to a FrameMaker book
>requires manually building the book file. But right now most
>XML apps that cost less than a Toyota can't even automatically
>create the formatting as well as Frame can import an RTF, and until
>it can don't expect writers to effectively work in the format.
>
>OTOH, it is possible that structured XML will become more
>cost-affordable in the same way that websites did, as today's
>junior high students learn to work in XML as part of the process of
>writing home-brewed games so that we can hire
>them as $10/hr interns to do the hands-on work of structuring.
>
>Gene Kim-Eng

To be honest, if you can have an invalid and mal-formed XML
document. That is what you are describing.

The difficult part of XML documents is in designing the DTD or
Schema. Once that work is done, using it is much easier. Just as many
people do a lousy job of designing a style for FM documents, you can
do a lousy job of designing a DTD. In both instances an understanding
of structuring is necessary.

Any XML document that does not have structure has missed the point of
using XML.

It's as simple in concept as saying Every Document contains a Title,
following that is a Heading followed by text. And so on down into the
bowels of the document. Just as you should have an organization of
hierarchy for format, so should your information be organized in a
hierarchy. That is the concept behind structure.

Technical writing using structure to produce coherent documents. If
you don't structure your documents, you are unorganized, and your
documents will reflect that. Your customers will probably not be able
to use your documents.

Scott
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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: Giving up on XML: From: Gene Kim-Eng
Re: Giving up on XML: From: quills
Re: Giving up on XML: From: Gene Kim-Eng

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