Re: Giving up on XML

[quills -at- airmail -dot- net]

At 11:01 PM -0700 3/13/07, Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
>XML *documents* are often (but not necessarily) structured, and
>it is probably true that that will always need to be done manually,
>just as converting a single Word doc file to a FrameMaker book
>requires manually building the book file.  But right now most
>XML apps that cost less than a Toyota can't even automatically
>create the formatting as well as Frame can import an RTF, and until 
>it can don't expect writers to effectively work in the format.
>
>OTOH, it is possible that structured XML will become more 
>cost-affordable in the same way that websites did, as today's
>junior high students learn to work in XML as part of the process of 
>writing home-brewed games so that we can hire
>them as $10/hr interns to do the hands-on work of structuring.
>
>Gene Kim-Eng

  To be honest, if you can have an invalid and mal-formed XML 
document. That is what you are describing.

The difficult part of XML documents is in designing the DTD or 
Schema. Once that work is done, using it is much easier. Just as many 
people do a lousy job of designing a style for FM documents, you can 
do a lousy job of designing a DTD. In both instances an understanding 
of structuring is necessary.

Any XML document that does not have structure has missed the point of 
using XML.

It's as simple in concept as saying Every Document contains a Title, 
following that is a Heading followed by text. And so on down into the 
bowels of the document. Just as you should have an organization of 
hierarchy for format, so should your information be organized in a 
hierarchy. That is the concept behind structure.

Technical writing using structure to produce coherent documents. If 
you don't structure your documents, you are unorganized, and your 
documents will reflect that. Your customers will probably not be able 
to use your documents.

Scott
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