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Subject:RE: HTML to XML conversion From:Jason Willebeek-LeMair <jlemair -at- cisco -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 15 Jan 2002 09:36:29 -0600
It depends.
No, you do not _need_ a DTD. However, they are quite useful. Many XML
authoring tools (okay, the top two, at least) use the DTD to present
allowable tags based on the position of the insertion point in the document.
They allow validation--which can be handy if you are using XSLT. You don't
want your authors to create invalid structures that break your scripts.
So, yes. You should probably create or download a DTD. DocBook and DITA
are two good choices for download. However, if you are learning XML,
writing your own is invaluable. Teaches you a lot. And if you survive the
lessons, you get to become a smarmy TECHWR-L poster.
Also, unless you need to render your output right away, you do not need an
XSLT. However, you will probably want to get a jump on that--you don't want
to wait until the day before you need to deliver to create them. Depending
upon the complexity of your markup and your expected output, and your own
nerd tendencies, the XSLT development can take anywhere from a week to 6
months. 8-) This is another area where some of the DTD and paraphernalia
that you can download from the web may be useful. There are some publicly
available XSLTs for DocBook that you can use as-is, or as the basis for a
customized solution.
There are also several XSLT generators and authoring tools, as Darren
mentioned, that can ease the pain of XSLT development.
First and foremost, however, you need to determine if XML is the right
solution. It may not be. Despite the hype, there are few situations that
only using XML will solve.
Secondly, if you determine that XML is the solution to whatever doc problems
you are trying to solve, look again. It is not exactly an easy technology
to implement.
Finally, once you are firmly convinced that XML is IT, do your research and
planning. Do not plan to implement for a while. Test everything. Plan the
transition. Make sure what you are doing works. Make sure you understand the
technology you are implementing thoroughly. Be prepared to blow a deadline
because something you thought would work did not.
Good luck,
Jason
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