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Re: XML schema for documentation - looking for resources

Subject: Re: XML schema for documentation - looking for resources
From: David Tremblay <techwrit -at- mediom -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 12:27:22 -0500


Karen Casemier wrote:

Does anyone have any good resources (online, print, whatever) that discuss
XML schemas when using XML for documentation, rather than transfer or
display of data from a database? I have googled on varying terms (XML for
technical writers, XML schema for technical writers, etc.), I have also done
a couple of free online courses for XML, and read a couple of books (XML
quick start guide, XML for dummies). What I'm really looking for is some
examples of schema (not DTDs) written for technical documentation. I'm
trying to develop an XML schema for a prototype project, and I'm getting
stuck on the content/format trap - I'm so used to desktop publishing and
HTML that I'm having a hard time getting the hang of describing WHAT the
content is rather than HOW the content should look. I'm also trying to
figure out how far I should break down the individual types of content.

Don't develop something someone have already think about, you'll loose your time for the design and the testing. There's information architect out there that spent great deal of time designing such things. Better take your time around customization of an actual package or transformation (for your inhouse communication with particular *ware need for example or specific output) Have a look at the docbook package. Also look at DITA which is intended for chunked content and specializing information types : http://xml.coverpages.org/dita.html (DITA use xHtml and docbook semantic to markup your content - don't forget to use the DITA forum to ask your questions)

We do have XML resources (as in people) here in house; however, they only
work with XML from the programming standpoint (our software uses XML to
transfer data from different modules in our software as well as to other
databases). They can help with the nitty gritty details, but I'm looking for
more of a high level type of thing.

This usual for developper to know just the well-form xml part of the xml specification thus ignoring the rest of it (DTD, xsl, xpath etc.) XML is much more difficult to learn than what you need to represent pure raw data in a metadata fashion when you need it for documentation purpose, XSLT, XSL-FO, entities modules, schema specs aren't exactly rocket science but they're easy to learn either

Any suggestions?

Thanks!



Hope it helps

David


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References:
XML schema for documentation - looking for resources: From: Karen Casemier

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