SGML/FOSI/DSSL help needed.

Subject: SGML/FOSI/DSSL help needed.
From: "harold (h.o.n.) floysvik" <hal -at- BNR -dot- CA>
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 15:03:00 -0500

Posted to both SGML-L and TECHWR-L. Please respond direct to me unless
you think other on the list could benefit from the subject matter.
========================================================================

I am somewhat of a newphyte in SGML, though I am heavily involved in a
project to SGML-ify (appologies to sensitivities on TECHWR-L) our legacy
documentation and to implement SGML authoring standards and processes
for the future.

As I peel back more and more layers of the SGML onion I find the subject
more and more obscure. Could someone on the list help to clarify
certain topics or point me to information sources which will help? If this list
is not the place for this type of query, please redirect me.

Current areas of confusion:

1 -- differences between FOSI and DSSSL. I started off thinking both
were just formal methods for defining the format rules of a class
of document and that it is the job of various formatting
applications (e.g., Interleaf, WORD, FrameBuilder/Maker) to
interpret those rules so that the document can be reconstructed in
the application in all its formatted glory from its SGML-tagged instance.

As far as I can determine, the foregoing is still true, but there are
only two or three authoring systems that can actually work with a
FOSI or DSSSL. Is this still true? Can anyone identify which systems
behave this way?

For all other systems, special interpreters must be built, e.g.,
Interleaf's Instance Processor, to convert the SGML instance
to the proprietary formatting scheme. I am also under the impression that
as soon as the DTD or FOSI changes, the interpreter must be reprogrammed
because it cannot "learn" the new structure or format rules by itself.
Is this true?

2 -- FOSI vs DSSSL. What is the difference? I've heard that the two are
incompatible with each other to the extent that a FOSI cannot even be
"filtered" into an equivalent DSSSL spec. True?false?

3 -- Are there FAQ documents for DTD, FOSI, DSSSL, SGML, that I can peruse?

4 -- is anyone using SGML in an Interleaf environment? I'd very much like
to be put in contact with such individuals. Is there a SIG for that
community?

Thanks for your help.

...Hal
From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000====


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