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RE: [docbook-apps] Tools for DocBook authoring by non-hackers


We are currently using Upcast to convert our template based Word documents to XML and then use Omnimark to translate the Upcast XML to DocBook. 


Marc Wiener
Gartner, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Roth [mailto:roth@infinity-loop.de]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 4:44 AM
To: DocBook Apps Mailing List
Subject: Re: [docbook-apps] Tools for DocBook authoring by non-hackers


Dear Paul,

>I have an upcoming Word->DocBook conversion project in which one of
>the requirements will almost certainly be that my involvement is a
>one-off, and I will need to leave an environment (probably just on a
>single machine) where new documents can be authored, and the various
>output formats can be generated, by office staff whose computing
>skills are probably limited to Microsoft applications.  Training will
>be possible, and there's not necessarily a requirement that the
>application be completely hand-holding and WYSIWYG, but the command
>lines and Makefiles that we are all comfortable with will be out of
>the question, as will editing raw XML.

you might also want to have a look at our application upCast. Though
primarily a Word (RTF) to proprietary (=upCast DTD) XML converter, the
current version includes a customizable (through tweaking the included
XSLT sheet) DocBook 4.2 export filter. An XHTML export filter is also
included, as is a CSS2 export filter for styling information of the Word
document.

Beneficial to your specific situation is that upCast includes "post
processing filter" steps like calling a commandline tool or using the
built-in XSLT processor (Xalan), which lets you build a workflow by
adding appropriately configured filter instances to the configuration.
This can all be done using a straightforward GUI, and configurations can
be saved and restored. The actual user then authors the document in Word,
chooses it as input document in our tool and starts the conversion with
the click on a button, which carries out the previously defined
processing and conversion steps on that document.

Aside from tool questions, I think it is important to note that Word-
>DocBook conversion results are tightly linked to the quality of the
input document. You will probably want to create a styleguide ("author
lists using the Word list feature; don't create tables using tabs, but
real tables; use styles, not manual formatting; use heading styles for
headings; don't use nesting tables;" etc.) for the author and possibly a
Word template with appropriately defined formatting styles that you pick
up in the DocBook export configuration to achieve best results.

There are also XML editors which create an Office-like WYSIWYG UI to
DocBook editing (I see that other respondents mentioned some of them
already). However, it is still quite different from the usual Word-type
editing, especially editing with invisible (in the layout view)
container/grouping elements so authors will need training.

Best regards
Christian Roth

-- 
infinity-loop GmbH
Christian Roth
CTO
http://www.infinity-loop.de
roth@infinity-loop.de



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