Re: SGML and tech. writing courses

["Laura Lemay, Killer of Trees" <lemay -at- LNE -dot- COM>]

At 1:50 PM 6/12/95, David McMurrey wrote:
>For students in advanced technical writing, I'm trying to brainstorm
>up some sort of unit in which they get some exposure to SGML.

>I'm a beginner at SGML myself and plan to learn along with the
>students, although I've had some exposure to SoftQuad's Author/Editor.
>I'm thinking that students ought to have some experience with using an
>SGML editor, converting a document to SGML, doing a validation, and
>then debugging a document so that it will successfully get through
>that process.

I am really biased about this, but it seems to me you could go a long
way towards teaching the concepts of the SGML philosophy (platform
and display-independent, content-based markup) by teaching HTML and
Web page design -- AND you'd give your students an incredible step up
in terms of new tech writing technology.

HTML is an SGML language; it has a DTD, it follows most of the basic
concepts, and there are editors and validators for it as there are for
any SGML language.  By teaching HTML in an SGML framework you can give
your students an understanding of why SGML is good within the context
of something they can work with and have fun with -- and you can link
it (no pun intended) to concepts of online and hypertext design --
skills they can use when learning other online systems.

I would have sat in line to sign up for a class like that when I was a
student.

Laura
lemay -at- lne -dot- com