TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> Back when FrameMaker released an SGML version (its seems only
> 7 yrs ago) I recall the buzz in technical communications.
> "SGML is where the industry is going"...hmmmm...years later...
They were right but not quite. SGML (which might also stand for "sounds
good, maybe later") didn't catch on, but its subset XML has been raging like
a summer wildfire. It's increasing wide use (seems like there isn't a coding
corner where it hasn't been applied in some way) supports its viability as a
platform (way beyond a tool) for documentation.
You hit the nail on the head when you talked about WYSIWYG, though. XML is
about data so it doesn't lend itself to a WYSIWYG like HTML, which is about
display. The Frame 7 approach does seem a step closer but I've haven't
played with it.
It seems that if tech pubs want XML for documentation, tech writers in
general need to wean themselves from reliance on WYSIWYG tools and learn how
to dig into the code.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Buy ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 6.0, the most powerful SINGLE SOURCE HELP
AUTHORING TOOL for MS Word. SAVE $100 on the full version and $50 on the
upgrade. Offer ends 10/31/2002 (code: DTH102250). http://www.componentone.com/d2hlist1002
All-new RoboHelp X3 is now shipping! Get single sourcing, print-quality
documentation, conditional text and much more, in the most monumental
release ever. Save $100! Order online at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
