re: XML schema for documentation - looking for resources

[Sean Hower <hokumhome -at- freehomepage -dot- com>]

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Karen Casemier asks
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? What I'm really looking for is some examples of schema (not DTDs) written for technical documentation.
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Others have mentioned DocBook and DITA, so I won't bother with the links. 

xml.com has a whole section on schemas.
http://www.xml.com/schemas/

But since you already understand what you're supposed to be doing, you just need practice in actually doing it. So, I don't know how useful the articles on xml.com will be for you.


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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.
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I know the feeling. :-) Can I offer some advice?

Start with the most general and work your way down to the most detail.

Don't think in terms of XML, or schemas, just think in terms of your document. If you concetrate on what you want to include in your documents, it'll be much easier to derive your schema.

Before you begin on your schema, you'll want a blueprint to work from. Decide the kinds of documentation you are going to produce. Then decide the kinds of information you're going to include in each of those kinds of documentation. For each of those kinds of information, decide what smaller pieces of information you're going to need. Keep doing that until you arrive at the smallest possible units of information (that still make sense). You should end up with a tree whose brances are going to be your elements and the limbs your nodes in your xml. It might help if you draw this out in your planning stages. Once you have a blueprine like this, it'll be easier to create the schema.

Kinds of information can include:
* cross-references
* links
* interface element names
* author names
* revision dates
* chapter headings

It all depends on what your documents are going to need. For example, when we made our index, we had keyword, subkeyword, and link elements (we used attributes for the rest of the data).

A test glossary I put together was more complicated. It had elements for:
* glossary division (a, b, c, d, etc)
* glossary entry
* term
* definition
* see
* see also
* acronymn
* paragraph

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, or want me to explain something in more detail, let me know. :-)


********************************************
Sean Hower - tech writer
http://hokum.freehomepage.com


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