Re: [StrongED] Re: StrongED Instructions

[Steve Fryatt <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 17 Dec, John Rickman wrote in message
    <2222d2ab56.John@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Steve has a point. The content is the important stuff and it should be
> produced and maintained is such a way as to make easy for those who come
> later to take on and build on it. The danger of creating the source as
> html/css is we end up with having start again should our enterprise run
> out of steam.
> 
> However, I don't know enough about XML to know if it falls into the same
> trap.

The point about XML is that it /isn't/ an end format. The only thing that
needs to understand your manual source is the tool that converts it into the
current "favourite format(s) of the moment".
 
> We could operate a two, or three step process:
> 1. write-up  discrete topics in plain text - anyone in the commmunity can
> do this.
> 2. an expert can wrap the text in XML or whatever

If you can write simple HTML web pages, you can mark up a manual in XML.
HTML is just one subset of XML, and in this case you define tags for things
like sections of the document, images, the names of icons in dialogue boxes,
menu entry names, and so on.

> 3. another expert can generate html, stronghelp, etc

A piece of software does that in the build process.

-- 
Steve Fryatt - Leeds, England

http://www.stevefryatt.org.uk/

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