Re: Online Doc but no paper

[Chet Ensign <Chet_Ensign%LDS -at- NOTES -dot- WORLDCOM -dot- COM>]

Cathy McNair  asks:

> I've also heard that you can use SGML files with certain
> applications to create an effective electronic document. Does anyone have
> experience doing that?

Cathy,

SGML is designed for precisely this sort of application. The good news is that
it works. The less-than-good-news is that it takes investment and some basic
changes in the way an organization works. I'm working on a presentation that
goes over the organizational roadblocks now and they have to be identified and
addressed. However, if you are in a situation where you have control over the
creation of content, you can do amazing things.

We are working on a document now that is the main manual for a heavy duty
client/server program. The same SGML source that is producing the print version
(authored, by the way, on a PC) is going out with the product on UNIX as the
online version of the manual. It also acts as the context-sensitive help
system. When the program makes a call to the help server, the proper section of
the manual is popped up. By using a different stylesheet on the viewer, the
portions of the manual that are not meant to be part of the help system are
hidden. Only the portions where role=help get displayed, and the display is
changed to give it is own independent identity.

Bonus points: this manual will go up on Novell's Web site along with all their
other manuals with no retagging or other alteration. ***No costly manual
reformatting.***  PS -- it doesn't even get converted into HTML. Just converted
to HTML on the fly by the Web server when a portion of it is requested. I
consider it powerful proof of the productivity gains that an organization can
get over their information-distribution streams by investing in SGML.

Thinking of SGML in the same light as word processing can be misleading. Like
database packages, it also takes application design and development. Nobody
expects to use Paradox right out of the box. You need to develop your
application. By the same token, few people are throw up their hands because of
that and say; "Oh well, lets just use a spreadsheet." If the application calls
for a database, you use the right tool. Likewise, if an information resource
calls for a multi-platform, multi-output,  or multi-use approach, nobody should
shy away from SGML.

Best regards,

/chet

Chet Ensign
Director of Electronic Documentation
Logical Design Solutions
571 Central Avenue                      http://www.lds.com
Murray Hill, NJ  07974                  censign -at- lds -dot- com [email]
908-771-9221 [Phone]                  908-771-0430 [FAX]